Activity in the East Central Scotland property market has continued to improve, according to the latest figures from ESPC’s House Price Report, despite an ease in growth over the summer months.
Between June and August this year, the number of homes sold across Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife rose by 13% annually. However, in Spring of this year, annual growth in sales was standing at over 30%.
Commenting on the results David Marshall, Business Development Manager with ESPC said:
“The number of homes being bought and sold across Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife started to rise significantly just over a year ago, and since then annual growth has often stood at 30 – 40%. Clearly you wouldn’t expect to see that level of increase continue over the longer term and indeed, we’re now starting to see the rate of growth in buyer activity ease back.
“With market activity having improved over the last year, we are continuing to see more sellers being tempted back. The number of homes coming onto the market between June and August was up by 19% on the same period a year ago. This means that while earlier in the year demand was rising much more quickly than supply, there is a healthier balance there now and this should help to ensure that house price inflation does not increase sharply as we move forward.”
The improvement in market activity over the last 12 months has made conditions more favourable than has been the case for a number of years and this is reflected by a shortening in selling times. In the three months to August the median selling time stood at five weeks, down from eight weeks during the same period in 2013.
At the same time, the percentage of sales where properties achieved a selling price equal to or in excess of their original Home Report valuation has increased. 66.8% of homes sold in Edinburgh between June and August met or exceeded their Home Report valuation, up from 41.8% a year ago. Across the rest of the Lothians 42.3% of homes achieved their Home Report valuation compared to 25.7% last year.
David Marshall added:
“Overall the picture of steady improvement in the market has continued throughout the summer months. Activity has risen among both buyers and sellers while selling times have come down substantially. In most areas prices are rising but inflation is typically relatively modest at around 3%. Although sharper shifts in price have been observed in some areas, where larger increases have occurred these have generally offset falls during the same period last year and vice versa.”
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