Walker Fraser Steele has reported the highest year-to-date annual house price growth in Scotland at 7.6%.

Prices increased in all 32 Local Authority Areas over the last 12 months.

On the mainland, Argyll and Bute record 22.7% annual growth in prices, while East Dunbartonshire prices rise by 5.4% in April. Meanwhile, Aberdeenshire has the largest gain in share of the housing market.

The average Scottish House Price is now £218,394, up 0.5% on March and 7.6% up annually.

Scott Jack, regional development director at Walker Fraser Steele, said: “Records were made to be broken as the saying goes and the evidence of this month’s data supports that. All 32 local authority areas in Scotland have seen property prices rise on an annual basis.

“The last time we witnessed this was in March of last year – a month before Holyrood withdrew the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax holiday it had introduced to support the market in July 2020. While that support was rightly targeted at keeping the housing market functioning during the early months of the pandemic, what is evident now is that people are still looking to move but that a lack of the right kind of stock is supporting prices across the country.

“Our index shows that the average house price in Scotland has increased by some £15,500 – or 7.6% – over the last 12 months, to the end of April. This is a £2,400 increase over the revised £13,100 growth in prices seen in the 12 months to the end of March 2022.

“The average price paid for a house in Scotland in April of this year is £218,394, setting yet another record price for the country – the tenth occasion that this has happened in the last 12 months. This price is some £15,500 higher than that seen in April 2021, meaning that prices have risen by 7.6% on an annual basis. This annual growth rate is the highest recorded to date in 2022.”