Rettie Property Research Services

Rettie are taking our usual annual delve into the performance of Scotland’s Land & Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and how returns and receipts have performed across the 2025/26 financial year compared with previous years as well as looking at how the new financial year has started.

Our analysis of the Bearsden & Milngavie shows the areas to be highly sought-after as a residential location, reflected in its high and growing average prices, market activity levels and volume of prime sales.

Summer Market Briefing July 2026 - The housing market in Scotland has experienced modest price growth in the year to date up to April (up 1.1%) and market activity growth (up 0.6%). However, this growth looks unlikely to continue as we progress through the year.

South-West Fife encompasses the city of Dunfermline and its surrounding villages, as well as the settlements of Rosyth, Dalgety Bay and North Queensferry. The area stretches from the picturesque towns of Aberdour and Burntisland to the historic villages further west including Limekilns and Culross. The data shows the stability of the market in recent times as well as above average levels of growth in the last decade. Prime settlements like Aberdour and Limekilns & Charlestown attract significant premiums due to the quality of lifestyle offered. High calibre detached properties are particularly in demand

The Stirling local authority area, comprising the city and its rural hinterland, has one of the highest average house prices in Scotland. The area offers a sought-after lifestyle, quality of property and connectivity, which drives demand. Some of the area’s most desirable settlements command a price premium, notably Killearn, Strathblane and Bridge of Allan. Market activity in the area has shown impressive growth and resilience following a year of constrained supply.

Perth & Kinross combines town and country living in a range of attractive locations, each with their own pull factors. The area is anchored by the bustling city of Perth and offers a diverse range of living options, from attractive rural towns and picturesque villages to a wide selection of houses, traditional steadings and impressive farms and estates. The area has seen sustained demand in recent years, driven in part by the shift towards hybrid working.

The East Lothian housing market continues to be one of Scotland’s most pre-eminent markets, with the third highest average house price in the country.

Scotland’s coastal settlements continue to attract strong demand from homebuyers, with many seaside towns outperforming the national housing market both in price levels and long-term growth. This report examines the performance of Scotland’s coastal housing markets over the past six years, highlighting the dominance of the East Coast and the exceptional desirability of locations such as Elie & Earlsferry, Gullane, Longniddry, St Andrews and North Berwick.

2024 was a record year for £1m+ sales … The overall Scottish residential market has been gently improving in 2024-25 after a tumultuous 18 months in late 2022 and 2023, when the cost-of-living crisis and the infamous UK Mini Budget saw it caught in a swirl of rapidly rising mortgage rates and much market uncertainty.

Spring Briefing 2025 - Set for Steady Growth in 2025. Gradual change is not very exciting, but small improvements stacked together year-on-year can be significant over time.

It has not been a balmy summer, but neither has it been a wash-out. The same can be said for the recent performance of the housing market both in Scotland and in the wider UK, which can best be described as ‘a little tepid’.

Over the last 12 months, 13 of the top 20 settlements in Scotland (ranked in terms of average house price) were located by the coast. Elie and Earlsferry took the number one spot with an average house price of £869,459. Gullane in East Lothian was second, with an average house price of £504,139, while St Andrews came in third, with prices averaging £490,361.