Property prices drop by £100k in sales stunt

Published on Monday 19 January 2009 09:07

MORE than £100,000 has been slashed from the asking price of some city homes as part of a "January sale" to kick-start Edinburgh's property market.

Estate agents, keen to entice reluctant home-buyers on to the market, are to advertise scores of properties showing both their original valuation and their current worth.

Cut-price properties on offer include a four-bedroomed bungalow in Biggar Road, Fairmilehead, originally valued at 500,000 and now on the market for offers over 375,000.

The Edinburgh and Lothians Property Guide is producing a sales brochure of around 200 homes making it plain how much they have dropped in price since they were first valued. Estate agents hope that laying bare the scale of the recent plummet in property values will encourage buyers to invest in a bargain before prices begin to rise again.

Steve Spence, senior partner at Neilsons solicitors and estate agents, said: "It's the first time we've done it because we've never had a situation in Edinburgh where property prices have gone down."

Mr Spence said low prices and low interest rates made this the ideal time to buy property for future profit.

"We're trying to underline the fact that this situation is unique and temporary and that in six, 12, or 18 months prices will go up again, as sure as night becomes day," he said.

"By introducing the original valuation we can show the discount. These are genuine discounts and people can do very well out of the market.

Leslie Deans, senior partner at ELPG firm Leslie Deans & Co, said: "We decided to do something to help the market, as the evidence is showing there's clearly a pent-up demand. In essence, this is showing some very substantial and totally genuine reductions.

"It's difficult to say whether prices have bottomed out, but it seems that activity is on the increase again."

A one-bedroom flat in Glen Street, Tollcross, originally valued at 150,000, is now on sale for offers over 109,000, while a three-bedroomed flat in Meadowbank Crescent with an original valuation of 210,000 is on sale for offers over 145,000.

Chartered accountant Graeme Tough, 29, put his two-bedroom flat in Dean Park Street, Stockbridge, on the market in September for offers around 180,000. He has had around 50 viewings but no offers.

It is now featured in the new sales supplement for 170,000 fixed price. He hopes to buy a larger flat and expects that he will in turn benefit from lower prices when purchasing a new property: "I'm looking to move up and the way I see it is, if the whole market moves in the same direction, I'm not losing out," he said.

Last month house prices in the Capital fell just four per cent, compared with a fall of more than ten per cent for the last quarter of the year as a whole. The news has led to hopes that the property market plunge is "bottoming out".