Scotland: The next stop for the UK house price boom
02-13-2015
As the outlook for the London housing market weakens, demand for homes in Scotland is taking off
2 Victoria Street, Edinburgh Victoria Street is just a stone's throw from the Royal Mile and probably the most picturesque location in the city,? says Edward Douglas-Home of Knight Frank Edinburgh. ?It is a quirky, traditional cobbled street, with hanging baskets and colourful exteriors.? As well as a wealth of shops, bars and restaurants, there is the Underbelly, one of the main venues during the Festival. On the market: A four-bedroom flat in Parliament Square, near Victoria Street: £595,000, Knight Frank.
The Scottish housing market is outperforming London according to the monthly RICS survey of property professionals. Photo: Alamy
By Anna White, Property correspondent
British householders are reluctant to move house before the general election, according to the industry body for estate agents, with new data showing seven consecutive months of falling demand for new homes.
The monthly survey of members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) showed that the UK housing market is continuing to cool, with only 2pc more property professionals expecting prices to increase over the next three months, its slowest pace since May 2013.
However, RICS respondents north of the border painted a much brighter picture, with 40pc more agents predicting price rises over the next three months.
Across the whole of the UK, Scottish members of the residential property organisation reported the greatest swing in new buyer demand which showed a marked increase.
RICS reported a 15pc uptick of agents registering new enquiries in December to a 34pc uptick in January, as more people started the search for their next home.
First-time buyers were spurred on by the new progressive Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) which will be introduced in April and is much cheaper than the old stamp duty regime below the £330,000 mark.
The research also revealed that 53pc more agents in Scotland expect sales to increase over the next three months, compared to a 49pc increase from November to December.
“The changes to stamp duty and pending introduction of the LBTT in Scotland are, to varying degrees, providing an incentive to first-time buyers, but there remain a number of challenges, such as ongoing affordability constraints, the lack of stock and an air of caution in the run-up to the general election,” said Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS.
Sentiment was at its lowest in London, where 24pc more estate agents and surveyors thought house prices would continue to fall over the next three months, while 19pc more respondents in the capital in January believed that buyer demand would fall in the run-up to the election.
However, there are also early signs of a pick-up in housing activity across the UK after a muted Christmas and new year.
Despite a month in which mortgage approvals fell to one of their lowest levels, agreed sales showed a slight increase in January and the 12-month member forecast is more optimistic, with 48pc more agents expecting sales to rise.