Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

House prices: Aberdeen fared worst in Scotland with 2.1% drop during 2020

Chris Comfort, a partner at Aberdeen Considine, said house prices in Aberdeen are more positive than they may seem.
Chris Comfort, a partner at Aberdeen Considine, said house prices in Aberdeen are more positive than they may seem.

House prices in Aberdeen have dropped further than anywhere else in Scotland over the last year, but experts say this could provide the perfect opportunity for first-time buyers.

Figures released by the UK government yesterday show the average cost of a home north of the border increased by 8.4%, to £163,000, between the end of 2019 and December 2020.

But Aberdeen was one of just three council areas where the price fell during the year – dropping 2.1%.

The others were the Orkney and Western Isles, where sale numbers have been too low to meaningfully compare.

Elsewhere there was a 1.6% increase in Aberdeenshire, a hike of 5.3% in the Highlands and an 8.5% jump in Moray.

Chris Comfort, a partner with north-east property firm Aberdein Considine, said the news is not as bad as it first appears.

“Aberdeen exists within its own micro-climate with property, and has done related to the oil and gas sector for a number of years.

“And these figures are actually quite positive as, if you look back, this 2.1% is less of a decrease than we’ve seen in the last three years.

“We’re seeing property prices starting to level out.”

The council area with the largest increase in price over the year was East Ayrshire, which soared by 17.9%.

Registers of Scotland, the body responsible for keeping track of the country’s land, property and legal documents, said the house price change is the largest for almost six years.

Accountable officer Janet Egdell said part of this may be linked to the sector-wide shutdown introduced when the coronavirus pandemic first hit.

She said: “The annual price change of a property in Scotland of 8.4% from December 2019 to December 2020 is the largest increase reported in the UK HPI since March 2015.

“While this increase may have been influenced by the unusual pattern of transactions resulting from Covid-19 restrictions, we will track to see whether this is a trend that continues in the coming months.”

Mr Comfort said the areas where prices are “booming” are also experiencing a shortage of stock.

This has led to estate agents setting closing dates and buyers making inflated bids for property as they compete with sometimes dozens of others.

In December, the average property price for Aberdeen was £142,600 – down from £145,700 at the end of 2019.

This figure combines all types of housing, however, which could have a bearing on the statistics.

He said:  “In Aberdeen particularly the flat market is well-supplied and that’s outstripping the demand.

“I think, with lockdown, folk want to have their own house and garden rather than a flat with shared areas, communal hallways and a lack of private garden.

“I’m positive the flat market could be described as over-supplied just now – and that doesn’t translate in the same way to average house prices.”

Mr Comfort added: “Now is a good time for first-time buyers to get onto the property ladder.

“Interest rates and mortgage rates are at a lower level for them than their parents would have seen, so in terms of affordability and saving for a deposit we’re seeing a lot of buyers saving enough.

“And they’ve not been able to spend as much money on clothes and alcohol and holidays – I think a lot have concentrated on their finances a lot more than they might have otherwise.

“So we will have many more first-time buyers getting into position.

“In the north-east particularly, average sale prices have been lower so deposits are lower too.

“They’re not going to have to pay 15-20% over the advertised price like you would in Edinburgh or Glasgow just now.”