Upmarket estate agency Rettie has hired a director from a rival firm as it seeks further growth in the booming property market in Glasgow's Southside.
Kay Blair joins from Clyde Property where she worked for more than 16 years, most recently as area director. As director of sales in the Southside, she will operate out of Rettie’s Shawlands and Newton Mearns offices, two of the agency's five locations in Glasgow.
Working closely with commercial director Neil Cunningham, associate directors Alison Anderson, Alan Laird and Vincent Reilly, and senior negotiator Grace Sloan, Ms Blair will oversee strategic and financial performance across the Southside network where sale prices are consistently averaging above home report values.
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“Rettie has an ambitious growth strategy in the Southside over the next three years, where we are aiming to significantly increase our market presence and become the number one brand and selling agent," Mr Cunningham said.
“Kay has a longstanding track record of providing excellent customer service and guidance to clients and buyers through every part of their journey, it’s an excellent fit for Rettie and our offering in the Southside of Glasgow, and we couldn’t be happier to have Kay on board.”
Ms Blair said: “Rettie continues to build a reputation for first-class professionalism, underpinned by a customer-centric approach which has made a real and positive impact in the local real estate market, an area I’ve lived in all my life. It’s a great time for me to be joining the firm and the impressive team based here, and across Glasgow and Scotland.”
While Rettie is seeing sales in the Southside at an average of 6.5% above the home report value, high-quality properties in the family home and apartment categories in areas such as Giffnock, Pollokshields, Newton Mearns, Shawlands, Cathcart, Strathbungo, and Queens Park are regularly selling for around 25% above home report value.
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“We are seeing stability in the local market, with confident buyers ready to move on," Ms Blair added, "and quality properties are achieving well beyond expectations as people look to be part of a vibrant local community, and access high quality schooling and local amenities.”
House prices in Scotland generally held steady last year despite an annual decline in transactions as higher interest rates dampened activity across the market. The Bank of England has raised UK base rates from a record low of 0.1% in December 2021 to 5.25%.
Prime £1 million-plus properties withstood headwinds better than the overall market, with Rettie recording 506 sales in Scotland in this category during 2023. Edinburgh continued to dominate the £1m-plus market, but most of the growth in this category was driven by Glasgow as the gap between the two cities narrowed.
Rettie expects prices for Scottish homes of all values to increase by approximately 1.5% this year, with the number of residential property transactions up by a projected 4.3%. In the private rental sector, Rettie sees double-digit-percentage increases in average rents on new listings, as well as a continuing fall in supply levels with demand remaining robust.
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