The average house price in and around Edinburgh is more than £60,000 higher than before the coronavirus pandemic, estate agent and law firm Lindsays says.
Lindsays has calculated that the average price of homes sold through its Edinburgh office in the year to March was £322,250. That compares with £259,893 in the 2019/20 financial year, the vast bulk of which preceded the pandemic. The firm’s average price for home sales through its Edinburgh office in 2021/22 was £314,798.
A spokesman for Lindsays noted that the majority of the properties sold through the firm’s office in the Scottish capital are in Edinburgh itself, with some others through the Lothians.
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And Lindsays said “prices across Edinburgh and throughout the Lothians show no signs of dropping” - with values remaining “stable and strong”.
Maurice Allan, managing director of Lindsays’ residential property department, said: “We’ve read lots of headlines about house prices dropping. We’re not seeing that.
“Edinburgh - as with other parts of Scotland - is bucking the trend that’s being reported elsewhere. We’re not in a market where prices are dropping. In fact, it’s a market that’s pretty solid.”
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He added: “Family houses are continuing to enjoy strong attention and are going for real premiums. After a couple of quite remarkable years, we are seeing the market return to more normal levels of activity, last seen really in 2019.”
Lindsays noted property prices had risen rapidly as the “market intensified amid incredible demand following the lockdowns”.
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It added: “Activity began cooling in the face of political and financial instability last year, which saw interest rates - which had been at historic lows for a number of years - increase, coupled with the rising cost of living. But this has not led to a drop in prices across Edinburgh and the Lothians.”
The Bank of England has raised UK base rates from 0.1 per cent in December 2021 to 4.25%.
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Mr Allan said: “For the vast majority of properties, prices are holding up well. What we’re not seeing now, however, are the extremes that we experienced in a relatively small part of the market when competition was at its most intense.
“We are not finding that properties are selling below their home report valuation. And properties are selling. Finance is still available for people - and many people still have healthy deposits.
“The issue is not whether people are worried about being able to afford to move, it’s whether they can find the right property to suit their circumstances, whether that be needing a bigger home, downsizing or relocating. If they can find the right property to move to, they will put their current home on the market. It’s a supply and demand issue.”
In Dundee, in which Lindsays’ estate agency team also operates, the average price of homes sold in the year to March was £205,790. This is up from £161,786 in 2019/20. The firm’s average price in 2021/22 was £181,849.
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