Premier Property set for a move of its own

2016 was another successful year for Premier Properties Perth.

The average selling time for a property was two-and- a-half weeks and there were more lets than ever before.

And people looking to sell a property in 2017 can take advantage of a special offer until the end of the month.

There can be a lot of hidden costs when it comes to selling your home. But the team at Premier Properties are helping Perthshire home owners by offering a complete package for £850 until the end of February.

This includes full estate agency service delivered by the team; you can put your property on the market any time during 2017 and there are no upfront fees to pay.

“February is a great month to put your property on the market.” Explains Katie Hall, Director. “Demand for properties is high, but supply tends to be lower with many people waiting until springtime to sell.

“This means more competition for properties and often higher prices.

“We have had a fantastic start to the year with several properties going to closing dates within a short space of time and we are achieving prices over home report values”.

The Directors, Katie Hall and Alan Keddie, explain how they have built their business around their clients’ needs and how they like to keep things local.

“We are an owner-led agency so are hands on with an experienced and motivated team behind us. Not only do we provide our clients with an exceptional level of service, but we work hard to achieve the very best price for their properties in the shortest timescale possible” said Katie.

Alan added: “On the lettings side, our unrivalled knowledge of the local market means that we are able to deliver a quality service for landlords.

“We do all the legwork, from marketing the property and finding the perfect tenant to maximising rental income and managing maintenance issues.

“We have just entered our ninth year of trading and are proud to be one of the few independent agencies in the area. We keep all of our business local and use local suppliers to ensure revenue stays within the Perthshire economy.”

Here, the team share their success story of 2016 and look forward to the rest of the year.

Against a turbulent political and economic background, we experienced significant growth in the property sales side of the business.

In 2016, we achieved four times the number of new instructions we secured in 2015, with a marked increase in demand for flats and terraced properties.

This is supported by official statistics for Perth and Kinross which are available from the Registers of Scotland.

During the first six months of 2016 there was a significant increase in the volume of flats and terraced houses sold (between 20-30 per cent each quarter), with the average price of terraced houses increasing by just over 11 per cent during January to March.

The surge in sales between that time was no doubt linked to buyers looking to avoid the three per cent surcharge on second homes.

The number of properties we sold during Jul-Sep was up by nearly 90 per cent compared with the same period the year before. In the Perth and Kinross area as a whole, both sales volume and average price were up during this period. It seems that Brexit had a limited immediate impact on the market, albeit the longer term effects have still to be felt.

Our average time to sell in 2016 was two and a half weeks. However, we sold some properties extremely quickly with one going under offer within 24 hours. Our network Property experts

of investor landlords means that we can sell certain properties, which are right for the buy-to-let market, very quickly.

We had a fantastic year on the lettings front. Our unrivalled knowledge of the local market helped us achieve a 25 per cent increase in the number of new properties we took on between 2015 and 2016.

We now act for several private investors who rely on our expertise to guide their investment decisions and manage their property portfolios and, last year, we oversaw several renovation projects to prepare properties for the lettings market.

Despite changes to the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, which imposes an additional 3 per cent tax on additional properties purchased costing above £40,000, low interest rates continue to attract buy-to-let investment.

In 2016, demand for rental properties continued to outstrip supply: our average time to let was two weeks, however, there was such huge demand for some properties, that we let them within a few days and even hours of going to market.

We could have let certain properties immediately, however, our rigorous tenant vetting process takes a little longer.

We have seen a marked increase in demand for three and four bedroom houses: growing families who entered the private rental market a few years ago are still unable to get onto the property ladder. The average property price in Perth and Kinross (£191,370) is now seven times more than the average full time salary in the area. This underlines the fact that renting is now seen as more of an alternative to home ownership, rather than a temporary solution. Owning a home of your own is still the number one lifestyle ambition for most, but other factors contribute to whether, and when, this is possible. This is having a positive effect on rent prices. We have seen rents increase across the board. This is supported by statistics issued by the Scottish Government. During 2016, rents in the Perth and Kinross area increased across all property types. In fact, of the 18 regions in Scotland, the Perth and Kinross area was seventh in terms of average annual rent increase for four bedroom properties and 10th for three bedroom properties.