The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
New estate agency opens in Perth
Property firm Strutt & Parker opened an estate agency arm to its Perth office yesterday.
The estate agency will be managed by former partner Hamish Spencer-Nairn, who is returning home to Scotland after setting up his own business in the Gascony region of France.
The new venture will complement the existing land management, planning and development and farming disciplines offered by the firm’s Perth office, which opened four years ago.
The move comes as recent figures revealed a strengthening housing market in Perth and Kinross with average prices at £195,552 against a Scottish average of £170,911.
This is a 9% annual increase, a rise of 17% over a five-year period and an 18% increase over 10 years.
Mr Spencer-Nairn, who was born in Perth and grew up near Cupar, previously worked for Strutt & Parker between 1993 and 2005 as part of the country house team in the Edinburgh office.
During the decade he spent in France he set up the Nairn Gascony estate agency, which specialised in the sale of chateaux.
He also established a self-catering business with his wife Emma.
He will focus on he sale of prime residential property throughout Perthshire and north and north-east Fife.
Mr Spencer-Nairn said: “I am really excited to be setting up the new estate agency near where I was brought up.
“Our Edinburgh office has handled sales of residential properties all over Scotland but we are hoping that having someone on the ground in Perth will help increase business.”
There were 3,037 sales in Perth and Kinross in the year to June, a 44% increase on the June 2012 data when there were 2,095 sales.
Malcolm Leslie, partner and head of residential in Strutt & Parker’s Edinburgh office, said: “Hamish will be a fantastic boost to the country house team. Whilst we already cover the Perthshire area it will make a tremendous difference to have an agency in Perth.
“Hamish knows and loves the area and I am sure he will prove a great asset to our team.”