House prices: Scotland bucks UK trend

Published on Tuesday 15 April 2008 14:33

SCOTLAND is the only part of the UK where house prices are continuing to rise, figures showed today.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said 90% of its members had reported the value of homes in Scotland were either rising or staying the same.

This bucks the overall UK trend of a drop in the cost of property, which has fallen to a historic low.

In London, 58% of surveyors said house prices had fallen while in Wales the figure stood at 71%.

But despite the continuing rise in Scottish house prices, new buyer enquiries fell in Scotland last month, with 34% more chartered surveyors reporting a fall than a rise in enquiries.

The RICS housing market survey for March 2008 also found that new buyer enquiries had fallen for the third consecutive month, and at the fastest rate since April 2007.

The Institution said many potential buyers in Scotland were either struggling to raise the necessary deposit, or exercising caution in the light of current economic conditions.

Potential sellers were also holding back, with new instructions to sell property in Scotland dropping compared to a year ago.

RICS Scotland Director, Graeme Hartley, said: "Scotland is in a unique position with house prices continuing to increase, albeit not at a 'booming' rate.

"The general feeling within the industry is that the Scottish market is currently holding up well, despite the downturn in new instructions reflecting the limited finance options currently available.

"The figures reflect a housing market that's holding its breath, waiting to see what will happen in the financial market, but certainly not one heading for a crash.

"In fact it is quite the opposite in Scotland.

"The next few months will be an interesting period for homeowners but would-be buyers with larger deposits may see this market as an

opportunity to take advantage of the slowing in house price rises."