Oil industry helps Aberdeen house prices bear up in declining market
Recent rate rises have sparked fears of higher repossessions. Picture: Getty
A PROSPEROUS economy built around the oil business has helped make Aberdeenshire one of the most resilient property markets in the UK, according to new figures.
The market in the Highlands, Perth and Kinross and Aberdeenshire were the three top ranked areas in Scotland in a survey comparing property prices in June 2007 with last year.
Whereas the average cost in some parts of the UK has fallen by as much as 53 per cent, the average price of homes in Aberdeenshire has fallen by just 7 per cent since the property boom was in full swing.
Aberdeenshire was the only area ranked in the top 20 performers. The figures, released by the Bank of Scotland, show the average house price in the area was £212,694 in 2007, compared to 197,918 in 2011.
The Highlands also performed relatively well with a drop of 9 per cent in the average price of a house, while in Perth, Aberdeen and Edinburgh prices dropped by an average of 11 per cent.
The average price of a home across Scotland fell from an average of £173,914 in 2007 to £139,699 in 2011, a decrease of 20 per cent.
Scotland fared better than the UK as a whole, where the average price of a home fell from £228,251 in 2007 to £172,427 in 2011 – a drop of 24 per cent.
Martin Ellis, housing economist at Bank of Scotland, said: “Scotland, like the rest of the UK, has been hit hard by the economic downturn of the last few years. There is no area in Scotland where house prices are currently higher than they were at the peak of the boom in 2007 although a number of places, including Aberdeenshire and Highland, have weathered the storm relatively well.
“A striking feature of our analysis of the areas that have fared best and worst in the past four years is a distinct north-south divide. Those areas that have performed are nearly all in the south of England whereas those areas worst affected are all outside southern England.”
The new figures show prices in Rochford, South Lakeland and Islington are almost at 2007 levels, with prices 1 per cent higher in Rochford and only 1 per cent down in Islington.
East Ayrshire and Inverclyde were among the 20 worst performers. Average house prices in both areas have dropped by 29 per cent since 2007.
However, the greatest drop in average prices was in Northern Ireland, where the average price of a house fell by between 53 per cent in Craigavon to 43 per cent in Derry City. All nine areas with the highest fall in prices were in Northern Ireland.
John MacRae, chairman of the Aberdeen Solicitors Property Centre, said he was not surprised by the figures for Scotland.
He said: “The reason Aberdeen does so well is the reason Aberdeen does well in most economic indicators – oil.”
He said the prosperity and low unemployment enjoyed by Aberdeen, a healthy buy-to-let market and a stream of people coming to work in the energy business had helped the area weather the storm.
“The peak was in June 2000. Scotland was affected by the banking crisis in late 2007 and we are still feeling the consequences of that. Edinburgh and Glasgow are still below what they used to be in terms of volume and sales but Aberdeen has almost got back to where it was.”
However, Simon Rettie, managing director of estate agents Rettie & Co, said: “Although Halifax/Bank of Scotland and other banking indices have their place in the housing market, they are only sample based and sometimes can be misleading.
“They also exclude cash purchases, which now make up a considerable proportion of the market.”
Email to a friend
Print this page- Family mourn death of Glasgow ‘fight’ schoolboy
- Rangers takeover: Duff & Phelps threaten legal action against BBC
- Today’s youth not fit to be employed, says car firm Arnold Clark
- Rangers administration: Fans fear Duff & Phelps claims could scare off Green
- Rangers takeover: triple penalty punishment enough, says Johnston
- Alistair Darling leads ‘No to independence’ fight over tea and biscuits
- Scottish independence: SNP flip-flops over Nato
- Scottish Independence: SNP ‘won’t be Yes campaign’s only voice’
- Scottish independence: Alex Salmond’s pledge to sign up 1m voters
- Today’s youth not fit to be employed, says car firm Arnold Clark
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Edinburgh
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Comments
There are 82 comments to this article
Page 1 of 6
Billy Boy
Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 03:08 AMLooking at these later comments it is hard to match them with the issue. The article says "home prices in Aberdeen have performed well". PERFORMED, this is the term used by the investment industry to say "investors" are making money! There is clearly the suggestion here that this is a GOOD thing, How on earth can it be good? Surely it means that more and more people will be unable to buy a home. Homes should not be treated like investments, the result is what you see in the USA today, millions of people being evicted. The housing market is manipulated just as the Stock exchange is and only the wealthy will benefit from inflated prices.
Aucthtermuchty
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 11:56 PM@Twinpower @76 ============================================== there is nae referndum without OIL Ista ll aboot OIL , do you think Scots will vote for hard work and poverty ? or god forbid offer their first born for freedom ? Scots are far too canny for that , leave the dying for the freedom fighters , the Uks is Scuppered by 13 years of Labour Loons and Scottish Bankers took a step too far , no we must pay the feryrman And Wee Eck and his rabble , dont want to pay the Bill , jonly because OIL is 300 miles away ! if I was Eck and watch the Falklands , Maggie killed thousdands doon there for oil fields , and that is 8000 miles away . Tories could easily kepe the Shetlands and Islands there only 500 miles away , what could WEE ECK do about it ? go the UN ? See where that got Argentina ?
Aucthtermuchty
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 11:49 PMThats wan guid thing about Maggie , she made us all property owners and consumers And the Scots downed their tools and adopted these new Tory ways with a vengance
From Yonder
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 08:48 PM@77Tightfisted @ 78Ron What do you expect from these 2 scottish layabouts who are the chaff left in Scotland as bright and the best Scots have left for England. @78 sounds like a Marxist with ideas which can only come from a Scottish layabout. As for @77Tightfisted he is just another lobotomised SNP follower.
Ron Greer
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 08:36 PM77 ---Correct, he is talking p!!sh
Tightfisted
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 07:39 PMSALAMANDERSKI OK pal......enough already. One can only take so much bloviation at the one time. OR If you prefer....Jist stoap taklin' urine........OK??
twinpowr
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 06:32 PMAh I see that unionism is alive and well. Why is that unionists think in such narrow terms. They think that oil is the end all and be all of Scotland. They think that once the oil runs out Scotland will have to close its doors, We all know oil will run out, we just don't know when, 30-50-100 years, everybody knows one the day the oil will be gone. Those in favour of independence know that it's how you diversify that makes a country prosper. That is what Scotland is doing right now. Scotland is Streets ahead of the rest of the world in terms of developing new technology, and Scotland is partnering with other countries who have expertise in areas that we do not, to ensure that when the oil runs out, Scotland will have a full functioning self reliant - fully renewable energy sector, which we will be only too glad to sell to the rest of the UK. Get your heads out of the sand, The Union is DEAD! Deal with it. move on.
Ron Greer
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 06:10 PM72 -----Just because you can't see further than your Unionist nose , does not mean that others have no aspirations
George Coutts
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 05:28 PMOIL SUPPORT INDUSTRY you should alway´s quote. WHY because there isnt one drop of oil in Aberdeen!!!!!!!!! And the London Vacum makes well sure of that. St Fergis only burns off the worst from North sea gas.....then magically goes south.....onward goes the Vacum. Jobs for the masses but stuff us were only stupid Scots.
Salamanderski
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 05:18 PM69 Distracted I understand, Scottish Che Guevara!
Salamanderski
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 05:16 PM70 Ron Greer Yes motherhood and apple pie and utopia.
Ron Greer
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 04:19 PM69---thank you Distracted. These are just basic 'chiels that winnae ding' and show that Scotland is not a socialist society. Neither do I wish to see one created, but that does not mean we can't have fair society free from the state robbery of taxation and the robbery of societally created Land Rental Value by private sectional interests. There is indeed a 3rd way.
Ron Greer
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 04:10 PM67 I don't like Marxism as it would let off the land monopoly capitalists too easy. Actually I'm very opposed to Marxism as it does not achieve social justice and just replaces one form of land monopoly with another. With the kind of monopoly we have at present it will be impossible to create an extensive free-trading, property-owning democracy and a socially just society.
Distracted
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 03:17 PMRe \\68Salamanderski _ Ron's just telling it as it is. This is the situation here, and if Scotland's not a happy country, and Aberdeen not as happy as it could be, it's because of the gap between the richest and the poorest, and the powerlessness(so far) of the majority to get things onto a more equable footing. Who wants to live in gated communities or in a draconian police state to protect their often ill-gotten(ie through exploitation of others) gains?
Salamanderski
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 02:36 PM67 Ron Greer Just a typical Marxist!
Page 1 of 6
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.