Scottish Housing Market Review Q2 2026

1. Sales

1.1. Scottish Sales Performance: National

Source: Registers of Scotland

Chart 1.1 shows the volume of sales for each quarter and the 4-quarter moving average which gives a better indication of the longer-term trend.^[1]

Across Scotland, in 2024-25 the number of registered property sales was 99,832. In 2025-26, this increased by 4.5% to 104,339. Most of this growth occurred in the first half of the financial year, with annual growth rates^[2] of 4.9% in Q2 2025 and 6.1% in Q3 2025 then slowing to 3.5% in Q4 2025 and 3.3% in Q1 2026.

The military conflict in the Middle East which began on 28 February 2026 is likely to further reduce transactions growth through its impact on mortgage interest rates (see Section 6). Indeed, more recent data from Registers of Scotland shows that transactions growth has turned negative, with sales in the 3 months to May 2026 down by around 1% on an annual basis.

LBTT data presents a similar picture. Chart 1.2 shows that, although returns were higher in the first three months of 2026 compared with the same months in 2025, this trend reversed in April and May, with returns falling by 2.1% and 3.9%, respectively, relative to a year earlier.

Source: Revenue Scotland

Listings data can provide a leading indicator for transactions. Chart 1.3 shows the monthly number of residential property listings in the City of Edinburgh advertised through the Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre (ESPC) between January 2024 and June 2026. While listings increased by an annual 3.2% in Q1 2026, they fell by an annual 8.9% in Q2 2026, suggesting that the slowdown in transactions observed in recent months may persist.

Source: ESPC

1.2. Scottish Sales Performance: Local Authorities

Table 1.1 sets out the level and annual change in quarterly transactions by local authority. The transaction volumes at local authority level can fluctuate significantly, particularly in smaller local authorities such as the island local authorities. To reduce this volatility, the change in transactions in the last four quarters compared to the preceding four quarters is also presented.

Table 1.1 shows that the number of residential property sales has increased in most local authorities in Scotland in the four quarters to Q1 2026, compared to the preceding four quarters. The local authorities with the highest growth rates were East Lothian (15.4%) and Midlothian (14.2%), significantly above the Scotland-wide average of 4.5%. Over the same period, three local authorities recorded falls in transactions: Orkney Islands (-6.6%), the City of Edinburgh (-3.0%), and Argyll and Bute (‑2.5%).

Source: Registers of Scotland