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Scottish property holds firm

7th January 2009 | back to article listings BACK    print this article PRINT

The Scottish property market has not taken much limelight in recent years as prices have boomed and subsequently fallen in the south-east corner of England and London. However, that could soon be about to change with news that the housing sector in the country is seemingly the most resilient in the UK.

New figures from Nationwide have shown that while the typical Scottish abode costs £138,941, compared to the average price of an English home at £171,924, property in Scotland has recorded the smallest house price falls out of any region in the UK. So although the average annual percentage change for the UK was -14.7 per cent last year, Scotland's house prices only dipped by 8.1 per cent. Thus, in a year that has been described as "difficult" by Nationwide, Scotland came out on top - that is to say, it was the best performing UK region.

In fact, during the fourth quarter of 2008, it was the only area in the UK to record an increase in property prices. Although the rise of 0.1 per cent may sound small, it is fairly significant when measured against other areas, as the rest of the UK continued to experience the slump in house prices. Therefore, it could be argued that the fall in property values is at its lowest point in Scotland, which may spell good news for buy-to-let investors.

This feeling of hopefulness about Scottish property was noted by Nationwide as it asked consumers about their housing market predictions. "Scotland is the most optimistic part of the UK with 11 per cent believing prices will increase in the next six months. It is the only part of the UK where less than half of consumers believe that prices will fall," Nationwide's chief economist Fionnuala Earley stated.

And another Celtic stronghold was not far behind the resilience witnessed in Scotland. Wales was the third-best performing region in the final three months of 2008, despite recording a drop of 2.4 per cent. Overall, the annual fall was below the UK average at 12.1 per cent.

A similar trend was also recorded by the Land Registry recently. It noted that Welsh house prices remained constant during November, while values in England continued to drop. The most significant monthly price fall was found in property in the south-east, where prices slipped by 3.2 per cent during the penultimate month in 2008. Thus while the market remains uncertain, perhaps the safest bet is to go west or north.

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