Posts Tagged ‘House Prices’
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
Many clients of Kupdom have been buying houses in the Inverness area.
Those buyers will be pleased then to have seen figures from the Lloyds TSB house monitor issued this week. They show that the average price for a house in Inverness and the Highlands and Islands is £168,815. Also the price shows a healthy growth of 6.9 % from the same period last year.
Not all parts of Scotland have experienced figures like that with Glasgow and Edinburgh still showing price falls.
Aberdeen showed the highest prices rises – averaging 13% – but the North now lies third behind Edinburgh and Aberdeen in the house price league.
Many Poles buying houses in Scotland have been drawn to Inverness and the North with Inverness now experience good population growth.
“I am not surprised at the figures” says Sebastian Kedziora from Kupdom. “A lot of our clients appreciate the beauty of the North and many have found jobs perhaps a little more easy to come by than in some parts of Scotland. It looks like they have been making a good investment buying there also – so I expect the Polish community in Inverness to continue to expand”
Tags: Buy a house in Scotland, House Prices
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Friday, November 13th, 2009
Figures from various sources confirm that the Scottish House market is changing a little, with prices stabilising and even starting to increase slowly again.
The Registers of Scotland – where every Scottish house transaction is recorded – state that prices have gone up in the third quarter (July to September) by 6.1% from the second quarter. That leaves the average price of a residential property in Scotland at £154,453. The national average figures of course disguise significant regional variations, and in six local authority regions prices were still shown to be falling. The biggest rise was in Perth and Kinross at 15% and the biggest loss was in Renfrewshire with a loss of 3.7%.
The picture therefore remains very mixed but at least after two years of bad news clearly there are some signs of a market returning to health. Solicitors and estate agents, however report that trading volumes are still down and this is confirmed by the Registers who state that five thousand less house transactions took place in the third quarter this year compared with 2008.
Kirsty Jack, Property Manager at Caesar and Howie and who works closely with the Kupdom Project states “There are clearly some positive signs but our sales volumes remain at about half the level of two years ago. I would say however that there are many people who would wish to buy but who still cannot get mortgage finance. The house buying culture is still strong in Scotland and as the financial world slowly returns to normal I predict a slow improvement in prices and sales volumes over the next few years. People buying a house now, I think will look back in a few years and think they have got a bargain”.
Tags: Buy a house in Scotland, House Prices, housing market
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Monday, September 15th, 2008
House market report
We realise how the trying times in the property market are affecting everyone in your position. It is very difficult trying to sell houses at the moment. The house market is often in the media spotlight and hardly a day goes by without some report or other making this or that prediction. Some of these reports are based on National UK data and may have limited application to the local market. I thought it might be helpful to pass on to you the considered view of our partnership on what we think is happening – and how things might develop in the future.
Current Sales
The first thing to note is that there has indeed been a big slump in the market in the Central Belt this year. Some agents and organisations are stating sales are down we understand by over 60%. Our own figures show a slump of 31% – so we seem to be doing better than many but these are still unprecedented drops. Nothing like this has been seen in Scotland before.
Number of Buyers
The reason for the slump is very clear however – it has been wholly caused by the “credit crunch” which has severely limited the ability of buyers to get mortgage funding. We have noticed no lack of willingness in the hundreds of potential buyers for whom we act to go ahead and buy – but many have been frustrated by not being able to get enough of a mortgage. Many of these buyers we believe will come back into the market when they can.
Prices Currently
If anything we think prices are certainly not going up (despite some earlier newspaper reports) and at best they are stable or trending down. ESPC is intimating their figures show a drop year on year of 6.5%. Our own records suggest that that is probably about the biggest fall we have seen.
Will prices fall badly?
The truth is we do not really know. Our feeling is that prices in the central belt will probably not fall very dramatically provided that there are no mass job losses in the region. We think that the will to buy is still there and there is pent up buying demand which has been held back by lack of mortgage availability and also by inability to sell. When buyers feel more secure and can get the money – they will come back into the market. Where there may be bigger price falls might be in particular areas where there is clearly oversupply. For example some parts of Edinburgh and Leith have a huge number of modern flats available with many fewer buyers in that sector than was expected.
Is there any positive news?
Well actually there is a lot of positive news – all of which has started to come out in the last few weeks only.
- Mortgage rates have come down to pre credit crunch levels
- Mortgage availability has dramatically improved – even 95% loans are back
- Stamp duty has been cut for house purchases up to £175,000
- Government help is available more quickly for mortgage arrears
- Further mortgage rate falls are predicted in the future
We believe all these factors coming together are going to ensure buying demand picks up again. Whether it all starts to move again quickly or gently and when exactly we see the effects, we do not know – but buyers will be back. The current market turmoil is unprecedented but people still need homes to live in. We do not believe most families would be happy to rent all their lives – and indeed rental property is quite limited in type in most areas.
What can sellers do to help?
We think there are two key issues here in this market. The first is sensible pricing in accordance with what market information tells us. The days of getting huge “over the asking” prices have gone for the moment. Be realistic and remember if you hope to trade up in the market you need only offer a realistic price also when buying. The second main thing sellers can do to help themselves is to be patient. Sales are taking a lot longer across the board and sellers have to “go with the flow” on this. The market is still operating – it is far from being completely dead – but buyers are not around in volume. But remember you only need one buyer for your house, not five or six and through time that buyer will turn up and buy the house if it suits requirements and is reasonably priced.
What’s the longer term outlook for houses?
Well so many articles are written about house prices it is easy to become obsessed by price movements. The truth is over 95% of our buying clients buy a house suitable for them and their families and not just as an investment. Also most families stay in houses for several years – which means short term house price movements don’t effect them. Even now if prices are down by a few percent many people have been in houses for a good number of years and will have the benefit of several years price increases when their sale comes through. Typically if someone bought a house a dozen or so years ago the value may have gone up by as much as 300%, so a shading of the price on sale of a few percent from last years level is not great but not disastrous either.
Our view at Caesar and Howie is that at some stage house prices must start to trend up again in Scotland for various reasons:-
- Increasing population
- Increasing immigration (in particular Polish)
- Increasing longevity
- Social change creating more family units
- Reduction in new building this year will cause a future supply shortage
- The economic cycle will move back to more growth in the future
All of these issues mean increased demand for housing over time – which must logically mean increasing prices over time. Consequently in the longer term we still see houses as a good investment. Whilst we recognise that investment issues play only a small part in families’ house buying plans – it is perhaps comforting to know that in the long term buying a house will prove to be worth it financially as well as getting your own roof over the family’s head.
If we might take a “weatherman’s” view of the market I think we’d probably be saying something like “still pretty wet and rainy but conditions will improve in time and some gentle sunshine should arrive eventually in most areas”. The difficulty we have is predicting the timing of the improvement. Some commentators say it has already started, some say it will be next spring some say even later. We just do not know – which is why for now patience and realism is perhaps the best approach.
Tags: House Prices, housing market, Market Report
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Monday, August 18th, 2008
Figures released by Lloyds TSB Scotland show that the Scottish house market is currently behaving rather differently than that of the rest of the UK.
The Scottish House Price Monitor shows in Scotland prices crept up by 1.6% in the quarter to end July. This contrasts well with figures from other UK regions which show prices falling. However Lloyds report also shows a large fall of 27% in the number of transactions completing.
“These figures mirror Caesar and Howie’s experience “said managing partner David Borrowman. “To the half year our sales were down by 22% from last year – but we have not yet found any significant slippage on prices. On the other hand “continued David “sellers have to realise that this is now a buyers’ market – unlike the sellers’ market of the last few years. Fixed prices are now becoming the norm, and sensible pricing with wide internet exposure of the property are keys to selling a house successfully. But most of all – sellers must be patient because house sales are taking longer to achieve. Buying a house is still a big ambition for most in Scotland and we feel that as the mortgage market comes gradually back to normal sales volume will steadily pick up again”
Tags: House Prices, housing market, Scotland
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Friday, August 15th, 2008
The latest data from the Scottish House Price Monitor run by Lloyds TSB makes comforting reading for householders. In the first quarter of 2006 house prices across Scotland increased by 4%, showing an average annual increase of 13.9%.
The Scottish Market continued to show higher rises than in other parts of the UK – allowing Scottish prices to catch up a little on the generally higher English prices.
Average prices in Scotland are now £107,789, for flats, £131084 for a semi detached and £205,303 for detached houses – although there are significant regional variations from these “all Scotland” figures.
The rises appear to reflect the continuing confidence of Scottish buyers. The survey suggests that in terms of the amount paid by buyers on mortgage payments relative to net income, Scots house buyers enjoy 24% better affordability than their counterparts throughout the UK.
The local experience at Caesar and Howie seems to reflect the national trend. “Buyers are quite prepared to offer good prices for well presented properties” commented senior sales controller Kirsty Jack. “After all house prices now have risen steadily for a full five years and people believe that a good residential property in a decent location will be a good investment over time. Certainly in our offices selling and buying activity just seems to keep increasing.”
Tags: House Prices, Scotland
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Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
Further evidence that Scotland is bucking the UK trend of falling house prices can found in the recently published Royal Institution of Surveyors (RICs) report.
It states that 59% of its members reported that house prices in their area have remained static. In fact 4% of its members actually reported price increases.
This compares favourably with the English market where 78% of its members have reported falling prices in London, with percentage increasing in South East England and West Midlands to over 90%.
Further trust in the Scottish housing market can be found from the Nationwide Building Society figures which show Scotland as the only region out of 13 regions within the UK where average house prices rose in the 12 months to mid-June.
Tags: House Prices
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Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
High street bank Lloyds TSB has predicted that there will be a ten per cent drop in house prices over the next two years, it has emerged.
According to the Telegraph, acting finance director Tim Tookey has forecast a further market downturn for 2008-2009.
In a statement that may be of interest to people looking to buy a house in Scotland, Mr Tookey claimed that the extent of the strains on the housing market have yet to be made clear.
However, he commented that the existing stringent lending conditions have enabled the bank to increase its share of the market and its profit margins.
“Our flow of new mortgages in the first few months of the year has been significantly higher than our stock position of 8.5 per cent,” he said.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s housing market appears to be defying the credit crunch, according to the Times, since it continues to outperform the rest of the UK, which may be good news for those who want to buy a house in Scotland.
Tags: credit crunch, House Prices
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Thursday, May 1st, 2008
House prices are only continuing to do well in Scotland and at the top end of the UK market, it has been claimed.
Research conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) for Chesterton estate agents, has highlighted a negative house price growth throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland during April.
However, people looking to buy a house in Scotland may be pleased to hear that the country is still doing well.
Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the CEBR, commented: “Price falls are now happening across the country. Mortgage lenders, estate agents and surveyors – in fact, all areas of the market – are now telling the same story of decline.
“Prices are only holding up in Scotland and at the very top of the market, which is propped up by international demand helped by falls in sterling.”
Elsewhere, the largest house price fall was experienced in Northern Ireland with a 4.6 per cent dip. Also, the value of property at the bottom end of the market fell by 0.2 per cent.
The CEBR’s sentiments were echoed elsewhere this week as Knight Frank proclaimed Scotland’s housing market to be “remarkably robust”.
Tags: House Prices, Scotland
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Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
Further weakness in the UK’s housing market has been exposed by statistics revealed by Nationwide, something that may be of interest to people looking to buy a house in Scotland.
The building society’s recorded house price figures show that they decreased by 1.1 per cent, representing a fall of one per cent over the past year.
Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide’s chief economist, commented that this follows the trend that has occurred over the last six months and “reflects the weakening sentiment in the market brought about by poor affordability and tighter financial market conditions”.
Ms Earley went on to say that a lack of demand from people stepping onto the housing ladder – potentially including Scottish first-time buyers – higher mortgage rates and tighter lending criteria have resulted in a record low in terms of house purchases.
However, it was claimed yesterday (April 29th) by property consultancy Knight Frank that the Scottish market was “remarkably robust” compared to the rest of the UK, which may be welcome news to those hoping to buy a house in Scotland.
Tags: credit crunch, House Prices, housing market
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Thursday, April 17th, 2008
Those looking to sell a house in Scotland could be buoyed by the recent research suggesting that homes in the region are bucking the overall UK trend.
According to a report in the Glasgow Evening Times, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has noted that whereas house prices in other areas of the UK were in record low territory, 90 per cent of Rics members reported Scottish house prices were the same or higher than previously.
“Scotland is in a unique position with house prices continuing to increase, albeit not at a booming’ rate. The general feeling within the industry is that the Scottish market is currently holding up well,” said Rics Scotland director Graeme Hartley, according to the paper.
This may come as good news to those looking to sell a house in Scotland, as it means their home will be worth more than in certain other places in the UK.
According to the Rics UK Housing Market Survey for March 2008, Scotland is the only UK region with the “net balance of surveyors” noting a rise in house prices.
Tags: Buy a house in Scotland, House Prices, Scotland
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