Cost of living in Scotland
What official statistics currently say about the cost of housing in Scotland, with the period each figure covers shown beside it. Every number on this page was published by a government body — none of them are our estimates.
House price figures: May 2026. Rent figures: August 2026. Published as Scotland in the source data.
The headline figures
Each card shows the period the figure refers to and who published it.
What the average home in this region sold for.
How that average has moved over the previous twelve months.
The typical monthly rent on a private tenancy.
ONS bases Scottish rents mainly on advertised new lets, so compare them with England and Wales with care.
What this means in plain English
A home in Scotland costs about 28% below the uk average of £271,295. That comparison is our own arithmetic on the two published figures above and below — both come from the same release and the same month, so it is a like-for-like comparison.
An average is not a typical home. It is pulled up by the most expensive sales and it covers a whole region, so the town you are actually looking at may be a long way either side of it. Treat the figure as a starting point for working out what a move would cost, not as a price you should expect to pay.
Housing is usually the single biggest line in a household budget, so a regional difference of a few percent on price or rent moves everything else you can afford. The budget planner lets you set your own rent and bills and compare them against regional benchmarks.
Every figure, with its source
Nothing here is rounded, adjusted or filled in. Where a statistic is not published for this region, the row says so.
| Figure | Value | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average house price | £195,543 | May 2026 | UK House Price Index — full file (2026-05) |
| House price — change on the month | +1.5% | May 2026 | UK House Price Index — full file (2026-05) |
| House price — change on the year | +4.4% | May 2026 | UK House Price Index — full file (2026-05) |
| Average house price (seasonally adjusted) Seasonally adjusted. | £194,866 | May 2026 | UK House Price Index — full file (2026-05) |
| Average monthly private rent ONS bases Scottish rents mainly on advertised new lets, so compare them with England and Wales with care. | £1,013 | August 2026 | Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics |
| Rent — 1 bedroom ONS bases Scottish rents mainly on advertised new lets, so compare them with England and Wales with care. | £702 | August 2026 | Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics |
| Rent — 2 bedrooms ONS bases Scottish rents mainly on advertised new lets, so compare them with England and Wales with care. | £911 | August 2026 | Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics |
| Rent — 3 bedrooms ONS bases Scottish rents mainly on advertised new lets, so compare them with England and Wales with care. | £1,172 | August 2026 | Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics |
| Rent — 4 or more bedrooms ONS bases Scottish rents mainly on advertised new lets, so compare them with England and Wales with care. | £1,941 | August 2026 | Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics |
Cities in Scotland
3 cities have published figures at local authority level. Cities without published data are not listed — we do not generate a page from a regional average. ONS publishes rent here only for rental market areas, so each city card names the area its rent covers.
Dundee
Average house price £140,878 (May 2026)
Private rent £825 a month (August 2026, Dundee and Angus rental market area)
See the figures →Edinburgh
Average house price £296,471 (May 2026)
Private rent £1,415 a month (August 2026, Lothian rental market area)
See the figures →Glasgow
Average house price £189,448 (May 2026)
Private rent £1,266 a month (August 2026, Greater Glasgow rental market area)
See the figures →National context
These are published for the country as a whole, not by region — so they sit here rather than in the table above, where they would look like Scotland figures.
What the average home sold for across the whole UK.
The typical monthly rent on a private tenancy in England.
The average band D bill councils in England have set for the year. Your own bill depends on your band and your council.
Includes adult social care and parish precepts. Published per billing authority and by class of authority, not by region.
Where to go next
Budget & cost of living
Budgeting guides, council tax reductions and benefit checks.
Open the section →Mortgages & first-time buyers
How much you can borrow, deposits, and what the sale price means for a mortgage.
Open the section →Debt, credit & money rescue
Free, independent help if the bills have got ahead of you.
Open the section →Guides that go with this
How to budget in the UK in 2026: a complete guide
A complete 2026 UK budgeting guide: the 50/30/20 rule adapted for British costs, worked examples for £25k and £35k salaries, and how to cut your biggest bills.
Read the guide →The £5-a-day rule — how pocket change becomes £500k by retirement
A daily coffee costs £5. Skip the daily coffee and put £5/day into a Stocks & Shares ISA from 18 to 65 — you end up with around £800,000. Here's the maths.
Read the guide →Sources
- UK House Price Index — full file (2026-05)HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Land & Property Services NI, ONS · released 2026-07-22 · Open Government Licence v3.0
- Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statisticsOffice for National Statistics · released 2026-09-16 · Open Government Licence v3.0
- Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government · released 2026-03-25 · Open Government Licence v3.0
The figures on this page are published statistics reproduced as issued, each labelled with the period it covers. We have not estimated, interpolated or seasonally adjusted anything ourselves; the one exception is the comparison against the UK average, which is arithmetic on two figures from the same release and is labelled as ours where it appears. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.