Leader: Bonus time while Scottish estates sell well

HOUSE prices overall may be struggling and mortgages hard to come by, but there is one corner of the Scottish property market where conditions are defying the gloom.

The country estate sector has continued to resist the global economic downturn. Sales are up on last year and the average estate price has risen from around £3.4 million to £4.2m.

All told, more than £80m was spent buying Scottish estates this year. Foreign interest has once again been high. Buyers in Russia, the Far East and America are still captivated by the romance and allure of highland Scotland, with the opportunities it opens for the classic pursuits of hunting, shooting and fishing. But most buyers of the sporting estates are UK-based, a large proportion of them investment bankers and hedge fund managers.

With mounting tax and regulatory controls on bonuses, and a plunge in merger and acquisition activity, 2012 is likely to be altogether more difficult. Not only will agents be forced to trawl more extensively overseas for purchasers, but some of yesteryear’s buyers may be under pressure as the high costs of maintaining a country estate coincide with sharp falls in bonus awards. The wee but’n’ben has always been popular, but it may come into its own in 2012 as the wheel of fortune turns down.