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£18bn in sales made by property market

Estate agent shaking hands with customer after contract signature
Estate agent shaking hands with customer after contract signature

The Scottish property market finished 2018 with a flourish to achieve a whole-year total of more than £18 billion in sales, new figures show.

Aberdeen-based law firm Aberdein Considine said in its latest Property Monitor that 28,870 homes were sold around the country between October and Hogmanay, which was 1,166, or 4.2%, more than in the same quarter of 2017.

The market is enjoying its best spell of growth since the 2008-09 financial crash but Aberdein Considine said a lack of clarity on Brexit and tax policies were affecting consumer confidence and property-buying decisions.

Managing partner Jacqueline Law added: “These figures demonstrate that the wider market has to a large degree recovered from the difficult days of the financial crash but we cannot ignore the uncertainty which Brexit presents.”

Last year’s sales total of £18.1bn was up by more than £400,000 on 2017.

A 7.7% year-on-year surge in total value during the final quarter of last year to £5.2bn was helped by an 8.6% increase in Aberdeenshire, to £262.1 million, as the north-east continued its rebound from the oil and gas downturn.

Sales volumes in Aberdeenshire were up 6.7%, with 1,208 properties changing hands at an average price of £216,929 – up by 2% – in the latest period.

Aberdeen suffered a 1.7% drop in sales by volume, to 1,025 properties, while the total value of homes sold fell by 5.5% to £199.1m.

Prices in the Granite City averaged £194,703 in the latest period, which was a 3.7% year-on-year drop despite an improvement in December.

Volumes in the Highland Council area fell by 0.6% to 1,248 properties, but an 8.2% jump in the average selling price to £188,658 drove the sales total up by 3% to £235.5m.

Moray enjoyed an 8.7% rise in the number of sales to 474, with the total value up 13.4% at £81.5m after a 4.4% increase in the average price to £171,967.

Volumes and average prices in Argyll and Bute grew by 13.3% to 538 and 5.2% to £170,255 respectively, boosting the sales total by nearly 19% to £91.4m.

There were 82 homes sold in the Western Isles during the final quarter of 2018, which was down by 11% from a year earlier. The average price was up by 2.1% to £116,227 but the sales total fell 8.3% to £9.6m. In Orkney, the number of sales was down by 7.1% at 118 but the average price was higher by 18.6% at £164,105 – fuelling an 8.5% rise in the sales total to £19.4m.

Shetland had 90 sales (up 3.4%), with homes fetching £158,042 on average (down 9.1%) and total sales lower by 4.1% at £14.2m.

Edinburgh was the most expensive place in the country for a third consecutive quarter with average prices rising 9.3% to £272,989.