Law firm Lindsays hails August's 'exceptional' activity in property

Law firm Lindsays has recorded its busiest-ever month in the property market, seeing an 80 per cent year-on-year jump in home sales in August.

A six-bedroom home in Edinburgh that has been sold by Lindsays for 18 per cent above its offers over price. Picture: contributed.

The Scottish business also saw a sharp increase in the value of the properties sold by its residential property teams in Edinburgh and Dundee, achieving a total combined value of £31.45 million, a jump of 114 per cent on the same period in 2019.

Looking at the Scottish capital, home sales last month rose by 150 per cent on the year, with the total values recorded almost double their 2019 level at £20.95m. In Dundee, the number of properties on which offers were accepted has risen by 40 per cent, with the collective value of the homes sold there up by 38 per cent at £10.5m.

Lindsays said the figures “confirm a hugely competitive market with intensifying demand from both buyers and sellers since Covid-19 restrictions on the home sales industry were relaxed in June”.

Maurice Allan, residential property MD at Lindsays. Picture: contributed.

Maurice Allan, residential property managing director at Lindsays, said: “August has been an unprecedented month for us. The activity we have seen has been quite exceptional.

“We expected demand to be high after restrictions that were in place at the height of the pandemic were eased - and there was always a feeling before that what we would see during lockdown was more of a pause in the market rather than a dip.

"That’s what has played out in July and August. If anything, the months of lower activity has created a bottleneck of demand… We are seeing a good number of first-time buyers and, in common with what we have seen for some time now, the trend of people buying subject to the sale of their own property has continued too.

“We obviously don’t know what the future holds in terms of the wider economy, but what we are experiencing right now is a resilient and vibrant market, which we hope will leave us well placed to weather any challenges which may emerge.”

Lindsays also said its staff conduct viewings with measures such as using personal protective equipment. It also said that before an in-person viewing can take place, all prospective buyers first take part in a virtual viewing of a property, generally via a video tour, a move that is reducing the number of speculative in-person viewings.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director