THE AVERAGE sale price of property in Fife rose by £20,000 over the past year.

That's up 13.5 per cent from 2021 and part of a longer term trend across Scotland as the amount of money needed to secure a home continues to climb.

Land Registry figures show that the average house price in the Kingdom reached £166,468 in May, up 0.8 per cent from the previous month.

In May 2021 it was £146,605.

An imbalance between supply and demand has remained the primary reason behind rising house prices in the UK throughout the pandemic.

But activity is starting to slow, with soaring inflation putting household budgets under pressure.

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at financial advice company Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The average house price hit another record high in May, and rose faster than any time since the peak in June last year.

"However, we’re starting to see small changes in the market, which are likely to mean weaker growth in the coming months, especially if interest rates are hiked in August."

First-time buyers in Fife now spend an average of £133,000 on their property – £15,000 more than a year ago and £32,000 more than in May 2017.

Owners of terraced houses saw the biggest rise in property prices in the Kingdom in May – they went up by 1.4 per cent in a month and 13.2 per cent over the past year to £136,555 on average.

The price of a detached home in Fife actually went down 0.1 per cent from April's high, but was up 16.6 per cent over the past 12 months to an average of £309,501.

Semi-detached homes were up 0.9 per cent from the previous month and 14.7 per cent annually to an average of £175,642.

And prices for flats in May, compared to April, climbed by 1.1 per cent and 9.9 per cent over the past year to an average of £99,141.

The average price of a home in Scotland in May was £187,517, in Edinburgh it was £322,000.