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.

Festive house sale boom recorded in Highlands

Sales increased by 40% compared to the same month last year, up from 80 to 112
Sales increased by 40% compared to the same month last year, up from 80 to 112

House sales in Highlands enjoyed a mini-boom over the festive period – with the highest figures recorded in almost a decade.

Statistics for December show that the number of sales increased by 40% compared to the same month last year, up from 80 to 112.

Highland Solicitors Property Centre (HSPC), which reported the data yesterday, said it had been its busiest December since 2006.

Potential buyers had also benefitted from a 26% increase in the choice of properties registered for sale, compared to last year, it said.

Overall, the firm said there were more people looking to buy a new home in the north in the second half of 2015 compared to the year before.

However, the total value of sales for 2015 was down 2% from £193.887million to £189.307million, and the number of homes sold had fallen by the same 2% margin, from 1,154 in 2014 to 1,128 last year.

Average house prices remained stable in the Highlands across the year, with only a slight fall from £168,012 in 2014 to £167,726, according to HSPC.

Sarah Woodcock, manager of HSPC, said: “Although the December sales are very high, I think it’s fair to say that one month doesn’t show a specific trend, so it’s worth looking at the year’s figures to get a better feel for what’s been happening in the market.

“Although 2015’s sales started off slow with a drop on 2014, in the last six months of 2015 we have seen a 3% increase on the same time in 2014.

“It’s a positive way to start the new year, with both sales on the up and insertions, so not only are we seeing increasing sales activity but increasing numbers of properties for buyers to choose from.”

In October, it was reported that property sales across Scotland reached their highest level in nearly five years.

Statistics produced by the Registers of Scotland (RoS) showed that sellers cashed in on 28,019 properties between July and September – the highest volume of sales for any quarter since the beginning of 2008.

However Aberdeenshire experienced the largest drop in market value in Scotland, with around £323million in sales between July and September – a fall of 16.6% compared to the same period last year.

By comparison, the average price in Shetland jumped by 18.4% compared to the same period last year, while in Orkney it increased by 4%.

Prices in the Western Isles rose by 8.3%, while the average price in the Highlands jumped by 2.5%. In Moray, the increase was about 1%.