Highly localised Scottish property market sees prices fall by 0.2%

Published 04th Nov 2011

The residential property market in Scotland has slowed with the latest figures from the Registers of Scotland showing that the average price of a residential property fell by 0.2% during the second quarter.

The average price of a residential property in July to September was £163,091 but there are regional variations. The highest rise was recorded in Stirling with an average price of £196,689, a rise of 7.9% compared with the same quarter the previous year.

The City of Edinburgh recorded the highest average price of £225,378, but this was a fall of 2.1% compared with the same quarter the previous year. The largest fall in price was in Inverclyde which showed a drop of 9.7% with an average price of £125,026.

The total volume of sales across Scotland registered during the second quarter of 2011/12 was 20,293, a decrease of 3.7% on the same quarter the previous year.

Moray showed the largest fall in the number of sales with a decrease of 36.5%. East Renfrewshire showed the largest rise with an increase of 8.9% in total sales compared to the same period in the previous year. Glasgow City recorded the highest sales volume with 2,247 residential house sales, a decrease of 4% on the previous year.

The total value of sales across Scotland registered in the quarter fell by 3.9% compared to the previous year to just over £3.3 billion. The City of Edinburgh remains the largest market with sales of over £496 million for the quarter, a decrease of 6.9% over the same quarter last year.
Aberdeenshire showed the highest rise with the value of sales increasing by 8.9% compared to the previous year.

All property types showed a decrease in sales volumes when compared with the previous year, with flats showing the largest decrease of 5.8% and detached properties showing the smallest decrease of 0.8%.

Alasdair Mackenzie, head of CKD Galbraith’s Edinburgh residential department, said that in the city sales are up considerably this year compared to this time last year. ‘However, it is evident that the market has slowed somewhat over the last couple of weeks. We are finding currently that because of the low volume of properties that have come to the market since the summer there are still a good number of eager buyers looking to purchase the right property,’ he explained.

‘There is a perception amongst a lot of potential vendors that conditions are worse than they actually are and so they are delaying the marketing of their property until next year. Demand is still relatively strong in Edinburgh but the market remains price sensitive,’ he added.

Dominic Wedderburn, head of CKD Galbraith’s Stirling residential department, said there is a scarcity of quality property. ‘We believe that the Stirling residential market is currently price sensitive. We are experiencing a good level of demand for correctly priced properties in sought after locations as there is a scarcity of quality housing available for sale,’ he added.

John Boyle, of property firm Rettie and Co, said that despite the overall picture continuing to show little change, the Scottish housing market remains highly localised.

Source: ' Property Wire '

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