HOUSE prices in Fife increased slightly in December, new figures show.

The average price rose by 0.3 per cent, a boost that contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 9.6 per cent annual growth.

The average Fife house price in December was £144,936, Land Registry figures show – a 0.3 per cent increase on November.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across Scotland, where prices decreased 1.2 per cent, but Fife underperformed compared to the 1.2 per cent rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Fife rose by £13,000 – putting the area 11th among Scotland’s 32 local authorities for annual growth.

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Fife in December – they increased 0.9 per cent, to £263,019 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 10.9 per cent.

First-time buyers in Fife spent an average of £116,200 on their property – £9,600 more than a year ago, and £18,000 more than in November 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £172,100 on average in December – 48.1 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Buyers in the Kingdom paid 11.1 per cent less than the average price in Scotland (£163,000) in December for a property in Fife.

Across Scotland, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £252,000.

The best annual growth in Scotland was in the Shetland Islands, where property prices increased on average by 19.9 per cent, to £167,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Aberdeen lost 2.1 per cent of their value, giving an average price of £143,000.