Head of Simpson & Marwick Property Richard Loudon shares his
latest thoughts around the position of the Scottish property
market
Over the last few months there have been very mixed messages in
the media with regard to the state of the property market.
These are generally based upon statistics from the Registers of
Scotland from sales being registered in the Land Registry.
Inevitably, in most cases it takes many weeks for transactions to
settle after an offer has been accepted and then some weeks for the
statistics to be issued. This information, therefore, does
not necessarily reflect current market experiences. We all
know that there are "Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics"!
The most robust statistics for the Edinburgh and surrounding
areas' property market are issued by the Edinburgh Solicitors
Property Centre. The ESPC statistics issued this week for the
first quarter of 2012 show that there is an 11% increase in the
number of properties sold from the first quarter last year and that
average sale prices are 3% lower than last year. This
indicates that sellers are now being more realistic about the price
their properties are worth and are accepting market value in order
to move on to the next property.
Clients who are moving up market have finally realised that if
their property is worth less, the property they are buying will
cost them less and therefore the differential price will be
less. This has now created some momentum in the market.
The reality in the market place is that "quality counts".
Having sold properties for over 32 years, when I go to see a
property I can instantly tell how well it will sell. The very
best properties in any market sector are selling very well.
Simpson & Marwick sold one property in April for over 10% above
Home Report value at a closing date within a week of going to the
market. It felt like 2007 all over again! Several
of our properties have achieved reasonable figures over Home Report
value in the last month.
It is fair to say that good properties are also selling quite
well providing sellers adopt the right marketing approach.
Properties that have a bit of a compromise about them and perhaps
only tick 6 out of 10 boxes for buyers need to reduce their price
from Home Report value in order to find a buyer, whilst the less
appealing properties really are struggling to find a buyer at
all.
What will the next few months bring? The first time buyer
market is still difficult because of banks' lending policies and no
urgency for youngsters to get on the property ladder.
However, young couples still need to move to houses with gardens as
families grow up and job moves all impact our living space.
Deaths and separations also create the need for people to buy and
sell and I therefore expect that whilst there will continue to be
good activity in the market, it will be some years yet until we see
any real recovery in prices.
Richard Loudon is the Head of Property Sales at Simpson &
Marwick who have dedicated offices in Edinburgh, North Berwick and
Aberdeen. In 2011 Simpson & Marwick sold more £s of
property than any other ESPC agent.
