ENCOURAGING signs of improvement in the £1 million-plus property market have been detected by a leading estate agent.
Top-end homes have been selling well recently, although sales are far from the level of the boom of 2007 before the economic downturn, according to property agency Rettie.
Bank of Scotland, meanwhile, came under fire after it issued a report that claimed the £1m homes market was up 14%. It is said to contradict the view of some agents.
John Boyle, head of research for Edinburgh-based Rettie, said he thought the bank's figures were inaccurate, but added the revival has begun. Rettie has sold 10 homes valued at £1m or more in the capital this year.
Mr Boyle added: "The numbers of such sales have remained fairly stable over the last four years, but are still well down on market peak of 289 in 2007. The Bank of Scotland figures may have included sales of sporting estates and farmland, which is the usual problem such estimates have when using the raw data.
"However, there are encouraging signs for 2013. This provides some encouraging evidence the top-end market may now be strongly recovering in the east of Scotland."
Greater London experienced only a 6% increase in the sector, leaving Scotland performing far ahead of all others in terms of the prime property market.
But the bank's figure is at odds with recent figures provided by Registers of Scotland (RoS). The body's research found 141 £1m homes – a rise of 7% from 132 in 2011 – were sold last year. Rettie said there were 122 £1m home sales in 2012, down from the 129 it recorded in 2011 (a 5% fall). Estate agent Savills recorded a 10% drop from 139 to 125.
An RoS spokesman said: "Bank of Scotland gets a figure from the RoS at the end of each month which details applications to register a property, but RoS stats are based on actual, finalised, registrations.
"There are a number of reasons why an application might not be registered in the end under residential property – perhaps that the application said it was 'residential' but it actually turns out to be commercial, so it's taken off our list, or there's a problem with the deed which means we have to send it back to the solicitor before the property sale can be registered.
"But Bank of Scotland haven't been in touch with us, so I think the figures they're using are the end-of-month figures, without the adjustments."
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