The Herald - The Herald Magazine
THE VOICE OF PROPERTY
KNIGHT FRANK’S Edinburgh House Price Index for the first quarter of 2024 shows prime property prices in the Scottish capital are starting to recover, albeit slowly, increasing 1.2 per cent in the six months to March 2024 and by 0.6 per cent in the first three months of the year, suggesting buyer sentiment is improving.
The firm is also seeing a higher proportion of cash sales, backed by data from the Land Registry, which shows cash purchases in Edinburgh accounted for 32% of purchases in November 2023, up from 26% at the start of 2022.
Interestingly, analysis by property type, reveals the lead generated by the flat market a year ago is starting to wane – houses are now registering stronger price growth than flats over a three-month period. Houses in the city rose by 0.9% on average in the first quarter of 2024, while flats registered 0.1% growth by comparison.
Analysis by area highlights prime prices in the west and south of the city have outperformed over the last six months, climbing 2.3% and 1.6% respectively.
“With interest rates at a 15-year high and stock in the New Town and West End market limited, more buyers have looked to postcodes starting with EH10 and EH12,” comments Edward Douglas-Home, head of Knight Frank’s Scotland Residential.
Finally, analysis by price bands reveals that while all six price brackets (ranging from below £500,000 to over £2m) are now registering flat or positive price growth over a six-month period, marginally stronger growth has been evident above the £1m threshold. Below this price band activity has softened as domestic buyers hold off their purchasing decisions until borrowing costs start to reduce.
GOOD news for homeowners, this week the Scottish Government announced proposals expected to come into effect on May 24th will ease permitted development rights for rooftop solar in support of ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045 whilst allowing consumers to access cheaper electricity.
By removing the upper limit of 50kW on most domestic and nondomestic buildings means rooftop solar projects progressed outside of a world heritage site or on listed buildings no longer need planning consent. This includes many projects within conservation areas.
Thomas McMillian, Chair of Solar Energy Scotland and a director at Savills, comments: “Simplifying the planning process for rooftop solar will make a substantial difference to Scotland delivering 6GW of solar by 2030. With energy [costs] continuing to be stubbornly high, solar remains one of the most effective ways of reducing the charges of running residential and commercial buildings – this change by the Scottish Government makes the process of installing solar quicker and easier and is warmly welcomed.”
BARRATT Developments Scotland has launched a new mortgage scheme in conjunction with Own New, which offers lower rates for new home purchases – below one per cent could be available for buyers with a high deposit or equity. Launched by the housebuilder, which includes Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes, the Own
New Rate Reducer works by using incentive budgets housebuilders offer to their buyers to reduce monthly mortgage payments over a fixed term.
For example, if the housebuilder offers a five per cent incentive on a home, Own New Rate Reducer takes this sum and directly offsets it against the mortgage interest to reduce monthly payments. Buyers can opt to spread the benefit across the first two or five years, depending on their lender’s criteria. In addition to cutting monthly outgoings during that time, the customer will pay more off the capital value of their mortgage because the interest charged on the loan is lower. Barratt Developments worked alongside Own New to design Rate Reducer and was the first housebuilder to launch the scheme.