Autumn Property REVIEW

AUTUMN is not traditionally the time of year perceived to be the season for buying and selling property. However, it is generally agreed among estate agents that the lines are being continually blurred between the ‘seasons’ for sales and purchases, particularly homes – except December when the property market practically slows to a halt. So, if you are in the process of deciding whether to sell your property or invest in a new one before the turn of the year, now is a good time to start making that move. Finding out what is happening on the property market has moved on from the days of standing outside an estate agent peering in through the window – although there is nothing quite like getting to know the estate agents for the area you wish to move to. They usually have expert knowledge of what is happening in their local market, including properties potentially about to come up for sale. Failing that, all good estate agents will have a website and many are linked into the big online agencies such as Rightmove and Zoopla. If you wish to look at how much similar properties were sold for or what average houses prices are within a street over the past few months, year or even 10 years, or if you wish to see how much a property has sold for in the past or which streets in a particular town have the highest value or turnover, then these websites present this kind of data, gleaned from the Registers of Scotland, in a variety of formats. According to the Registers of Scotland, property prices on average across the country have been increasing year-onyear since March 2015. In July this year, there was an increase of 4.8 per cent to £149,185 in the average price in Scotland compared to July 2016 – the UK average was £226,185, an increase of 5.1 per cent on the previous year. In Argyll and Bute, the increase was just 0.7 per cent to £133,188, while in the Highlands the average property price was £157,643, an increase of 3.8 per cent on July 2016. Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles) saw its average property prices fall from £104,421 in July 2016 to £99,628 in July 2017, a decrease of 4.6 per cent. Although the volume of sales for the past three months is not yet available from the Registers of Scotland, sales for May, year-on-year, show a more than 20 per cent increase for Argyll and Bute and the Highlands. However, Na h-Eileanan Siar suffered from a 26 per cent reduction in sales in May 2017, compared to May 2016, although it should be noted that a low volume of sales overall can have a significant impact on the percentage increase or decrease. Registers of Scotland business development and information director Kenny Crawford said: ‘While average prices have been steadily increasing each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year, sales volumes figures have been more changeable over the 12 months to May. ‘May 2017 showed an increase in sales volumes in Scotland of 13.7 per cent when compared with May 2016; however, volumes in May 2016 were lower than usual, a possible effect of the introduction of changes to the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax that came into effect on April 1, 2016.’