The Herald - The Herald Magazine
THE VOICE OF PROPERTY
AMAZING but true – according to the latest analysis of official statistics by property firm DJ Alexander, the average price of detached homes in Edinburgh has risen by more than £1,000 a week over the last year, taking the average price from £669,667 to £722,367 – a rise of £52,700 in 12 months.
The capital was closely followed by Midlothian where average detached prices rose by £51,520, and Glasgow, which increased by £47,272 over the year. The Scottish average was £18,458 with price increases in all areas except Argyll and Bute, which fell £113 and Aberdeenshire, where there was a fall of £924.
Commenting on the figures,
CEO David Alexander says: “These numbers are testament to the large numbers of people in Scotland who want a detached home and want to live in our major cities and their immediate surrounding areas. The interesting shift is away from remote and rural properties back to large urban and suburban areas.
“The move to the country which occurred during COVID appears to be reversing and in many of the areas away from the central belt we can see a static or, in two areas, an actual fall in average prices. I would anticipate this trend continuing in the coming months and the city market remaining strong but perhaps not as buoyant as the last year.”
THE latest property market analysis by Rightmove reveals Aberdeen is the least expensive city in the UK for first time buyers, with an average asking price of £102,602 for a typical first time buyer property – deemed to have one or two bedrooms – and an average monthly mortgage payment of
£406 per month. In contrast, the same type and size of property would cost £775 per month to rent, making buyers £369 per month better off. Joining Aberdeen in the top ten cities league, Dundee was sixth, with an average property asking price of £116,191 and average mortgage payment of £460 – £361 cheaper than the equivalent average monthly rent of £821. Conversely, Edinburgh made it into the top ten list of most expensive cities for first time buyers with an average asking price of £239,028 and average monthly mortgage payment of £946. And comparing buying with renting, buyers are still better off by £365 per month, given an average monthly rental of £1,310.
HAVE you noticed the market seems to be awash with islands? The latest to sport a For Sale board is Sanda Island, off the tip of the Mull of Kintyre peninsula, which includes the smaller islands of Sheep and Glunimore. For sale with Knight Frank at offers over £2.5m, Sanda has two slipways for boat access and a helipad close to the road that connects the farmhouse and lighthouse cottages – the island has seven residential properties in total and extends to around 453 acres.
Meanwhile, Savills currently has two Scottish islands listed: Torsa Island off the west coast of Scotland at offers over £1.5m, which includes a three-bedroomed period farmhouse, around 270 acres, sheltered anchorage and mooring, and over two miles of coastline and foreshore. And Inchmoan Island on Loch Lomond, at offers over £895,000, a private island only five miles from Balloch which boasts white shingle beaches, sheltered bays, ancient woodland – around 112 acres in total including the ruins of a former hunting lodge.