'Continued elevation' for Scottish house prices

Posted: 18 Nov 2011 12:56:41 GMT

House prices in Scotland for September stood at 0.8 per cent.

House prices in Scotland continue to rise, with an escalation of 0.8 per cent recorded across September.

New figures from LSL Property Services revealed such costs climbed for the third month in a row thanks to an 'end of summer bounce'.

According to the group's House Price Index, the year-on-year property value decline also showed signs of slowing, as it eased from -1.9 per cent in October to -1.5 per cent the following month.

Gordon Fowlis, regional managing director at Your Move, noted summer tends to be a time of year when many people choose to relocate - which serves to push prices up.

The industry figure observed: "This year, that trend has lasted longer than normal, with the market making up for lost time after a turgid spring and more buyers looking to take advantage of cheap mortgage rates introduced over the summer."

He explained, however, that it is wealthier buyers who are serving to prop up the market at present as they seek to take advantage of lower-than-usual mortgage rates.

"Sadly for lower income buyers, lenders have very strict criteria attached to these mortgages which means they can't hope to get approval for them," Mr Fowlis added.

According to LSL Property Services - which was formed following the buy out of Your Move and e.surv Chartered Surveyors from Aviva in 2004 - house prices are expected to start a gradual decline before the end of the year, with the transaction numbers enjoyed in September beginning to wilt as autumn takes hold.

As such, it has been predicted that suppression in activity at the bottom end of the housing ladder will lead to prices at the end of 2011 being lower than they were at the same point 12 months earlier.

Contributing factors to such movement include the threat to the UK economy posed by the ongoing European debt crisis and the constriction of credit conditions.
 

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