Midlothian house prices increased more than average in August

The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 16.3 per cent annual growth.

The average Midlothian house price in August was £219,921, Land Registry figures show – a 2.4 per cent increase on July.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across Scotland, where prices increased 1.7 per cent, but Midlothian underperformed compared to the 2.9 per cent rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Midlothian rose by £31,000 – putting the area 10th among Scotland’s 32 local authorities for annual growth.

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Midlothian in August – they increased by three per cent, to £409,296 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 19.4 per cent.

Buyers paid 21.6 per cent more than the average price in Scotland (£181,000) in August for a property in Midlothian. Across Scotland, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £264,000.

The most expensive properties in Scotland were in Edinburgh – £314,000 on average, and 1.4 times as much as in Midlothian. Edinburgh properties cost 2.8 times as much as homes in East Ayrshire (£114,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.