Stamp duty 'holiday' fuels Scottish house sales surge

Senior News Reporter

Wednesday 1 August 2012

THE property market in Scotland surged this spring with more than 18,500 successful house sales listed in just three months.

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Alison Campsie

The official figures, from Registers of Scotland, record a 33% quarterly increase in new ownerships between April and June and a 9.9% rise in successful house sales over the year.

The report indicates the arrival of some much-needed dynamism in the market with the sales boost increasing the total value of property sales by £775 million in just one quarter.

Property professionals have suggested a last-minute rush to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday for homes valued at £250,000 and less, which ended on March 31, has driven the figures.The rises have brought the total value of sales in Scotland to £2.4 billion, as increased activity combined with a rise in property values to create an upbeat picture of the Scottish market.Aberdeenshire, Angus, East Lothian, Inverclyde, Midlothian and West Dunbartonshire showed particularly high levels of listed property transactions.Prices showed the highest increases in Clackmannanshire, Western Isles, Edinburgh and the Shetland Isles between April and June, with the average property value in Scotland now £153,501 – up 3.2% on the quarter.Faisal Choudhry, associate director of residential research at Savills, said: "These figures are excellent news. The reasons behind the figures are led by the stamp duty relief that finished at the end of March. You can see in the figures the big surge in registrations followed in April."The stamp duty holiday has fuelled this performance and now we can look at the after-effects and the long-term benefits of this. We can see we are heading in the right direction so let's look ahead to quarter three and quarter four of 2012."Mr Choudhry said registrations mellowed in June but further help for first-time buyers should keep the momentum going. He added: "These figures may help challenge the mindset of people who have been reluctant to apply to lenders. If there are more applications, there is every chance more mortgages will be granted."A spokesman for Clyde Property said: "The figures on volume of sales show people are becoming more confident in the housing market. We would expect the figures from the time of year to show an increase in activity but to see them go up so much is very encouraging. The stamp duty has obviously been a factor in this increased confidence."Registers of Scotland figures are based on when a change in property ownership is officially listed as opposed to the date of the sale, with normally a six-week lapse between the two.Figures indicate all stages of the property ladder have been unlocked in the past three months. Flat sales went up by 26% on the quarter with 6385 properties of this type being listed between April and June. Sales of two-storey homes have also soared with detached and terraced homes sitting at the top of the sales table. There were 4436 detached properties listed in new ownership between April and June, up 400 on the year and more than 1200 on the quarter.Sales of of semi-detached properties increased by 913 at Registers of Scotland during the second quarter – a 35.4% rise on the early part of 2012. Successful purchases of terraced properties rose by almost 38%. In Glasgow, the average property is valued at £107,000 with a more muted growth of 1.9% between April and June and a fall of 2.7% on the year. Sales of detached properties went up by 16% on the quarter with the numbers of flats going up almost 1100 on the year.Edinburgh remains one of the most affluent places in Scotland for properties, with the average home selling for £175,075 – up almost £10,000 on the quarter. Sales of higher-end detached homes in the capital have soared more than 57% on the quarter.Rhona Mackay, commercial services manager at Registers of Scotland, said: "Sales volumes have changed dramatically in recent years, from 42,503 sales in the second financial quarter of 2007 to when the market crashed in the fourth quarter of 2009 with a disappointing 11,800 sales."The hike in sales may be further boosted when the new Funding for Lending scheme, which aims to improve the availability of credit and ultimately to get growth going in the UK economy, begins next month. "The Bank of England has provided for a 5% increase in funds for lending – up to £80bn – over the next 18 months."

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Stamp duty 'holiday' fuels Scottish house sales surge

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