There has been a sharp rise in the number of cash sales of houses worth over half a million pounds, with numbers increasing by 19.6% in 2014 according to figures from Registers of Scotland (RoS).

RoS defines a cash sale as an application for registration of a market value transfer of a residential property which is not accompanied by a mortgage application. In total, 599 homes were sold for upwards of £500,000 and paid for in cash last year, compared to 501 in 2013.

The City of Edinburgh had the highest cash sales volume in 2014, with 254 residential properties. Aberdeen City had the second highest with 50, while Glasgow City came in third with 34.

“These figures indicate an increase in cash-rich buyers at the high end of the property market, particularly in Edinburgh, which had the same number of high-value cash sales as the remaining top ten areas combined,” commented Kenny Crawford, director of commercial services at RoS.

“Across Scotland, 32.4% of homes worth over £500,000 were paid for in cash last year, compared to 34.4% in 2013,” he added. “The picture with properties over £1 million is very different, with cash sales accounting for 48.9% of the market in 2014 compared to 42.3% the previous year.”

Aberdeen City had the most expensive individual cash sale at £3.07 million. This was also the highest value sale to be registered in 2014 across all transactions, including those that included mortgages.

The second most expensive individual cash sale was in East Lothian at £3 million, while the third highest was in Fife, costing £2.6 million.

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