Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Kirkcaldy sees biggest house price rise but Dundee and Perth lag behind

Drone image of Kirkcaldy.
Drone image of Kirkcaldy. Image: Steve Brown/DC Thomson.

House prices in Kirkcaldy rose almost three times the national average this year according to a new Bank of Scotland report.

The Lang Toun saw average prices jump by 29% – the largest percentage increase in Scotland.

And it wasn’t the only Fife location to be included in the Scottish property price top 10.

Dunfermline prices rose by 19.1% in the last year, putting it third on the list behind Johnstone in Renfrewshire.

The report shows that house prices across the country jumped by an average of £23,814 in the 12 months to November, a yearly increase of 10.9%.

The average Scottish home now costs £242,213.

Kirkcaldy prices rose from £157,779 in 2021 to £203,577. Dunfermline’s average house price is now £226,481.

It also wasn’t good news for every Fife location – growth in Glenrothes was weaker than most other locations. It saw an average price rise of 7.7% to £166,466.

Why are Kirkcaldy house prices increasing?

Local estate agent Jim Parker of Fife Properties is surprised Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline have ranked so highly.

His theory is that it is down to the amount of new build developments in these areas.

Jim Parker, who runs Fife Properties, stands outside his shop.
Jim Parker, who runs Fife Properties. Image: Kim Cessford/DC Thomson.

He said: “They are two areas with a high volume of properties coming onto the market. I think it is due to the number of new builds skewing the average.

“Glenrothes being one of the poorer performers also surprises me as it’s an area with high rental demand.

“Fife is very affordable compared to the rest of Scotland. It is also easy to commute to Fife from Edinburgh or Dundee, making it an attractive place to buy property.”

Dundee and Perth house price rise below average

House prices in Edinburgh (+12.9%) and Glasgow (+13.6%) also rose.

However, prices in Dundee and Perth did not keep pace with the national average.

Dundee saw the sixth lowest growth on the list, with an increase of 6.4% to £205,869.

Meanwhile Perth prices were up by 9.8% to £244,246.

House prices have risen in all but two Scottish towns in the past 12 months.

At the other end of the scale, Ayr, South Ayrshire, and Inverurie, Aberdeenshire were the only towns to see prices fall back during 2022, by 1.7% and 0.2% respectively.

Growth to slow in 2023

Graham Blair, mortgages director, Bank of Scotland, said house price growth was expected to slow in Scotland in 2023.

He said: “Scottish house prices have continued to rise over the last 12 months, but during 2022 it’s not been big cities leading the way.

“This is partly due to pandemic-driven shifts in housing preferences as buyers sought bigger properties further from major urban centres.

“We can see this clearly in commuter towns across Scotland, but Fife has been a notable hotspot, with both Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline recording strong house price growth.”

Conversation