This is what the pandemic has done to house prices in Falkirk district

House prices in Falkirk increased by more than the Scottish average in March, as the country went into lockdown.

The latest boost contributed to the longer term trend for the district, which has seen property prices locally achieve 9.5 per cent annual growth.

The new Land Registry figures show the average Falkirk house price in March was £131,712 – a 1.4 per cent increase on February.

It seems the local property market is faring better than elsewhere in Scotland with the national average for March seeing prices rise by 0.4 per cent.

Across the UK as a whole, there was a drop of 0.2 per cent.

In the last 12 months, the average sale price of property in Falkirk has risen by £11,000 – putting the area fourth among Scotland’s local authorities for annual growth.

The Scottish Borders has seen the highest increase in annual growth, with properties increasing on average by 12.3 per cent to £163,000.

Owners of detatched houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in the Falkirk district in March – with an increase of 2.1 per cent to £246,129 on average.

Semi-detatched properties were up 1.5 per cent for the month to £143,385 – an annual increase of 10.1 percent, while terraced homes rose to an average price of £105,942 which is a monthly increase of 0.9 per cent and 9.3 per cent annually.

Flats saw a 1.1 per cent monthly increase to £76,924, taking the annual rise to 7.4 per cent.

The figures show first time buyers locally spent an average of £108,700 on their property – £8800 more than a year ago and £23,600 more than in March 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £157,100 on average in March – 44.5 per cent more than first time buyers.

The latest figures come as house sales in Scotland reached a standstill due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With the Scottish Government advising against the moving of house during lockdown sales dried up during April.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you