Residential property sales on track to hit one million in 2024 - Peter Ryder

Increasing house stock and healthy demand for homes will help to maintain property prices in Scotland and I predict UK residential property sales will hit more than one million in 2024, with Scottish prices holding up well as long as sellers are realistic.

The property market in Scotland will start slowly in 2024 before picking up, much like 2023. We are already seeing more competitive two- and five-year mortgages available, and inflation is decreasing. This will be supplemented by governmental policies, which are likely to include help for first-time buyers, which will create a ‘feel-good’ factor for buyers next year, encouraging them onto the property market.

Initial competitive selling prices are vital to ensuring a property does sell, properties are now taking longer to sell although they have just fallen back to pre-Covid timescales. Housing stock is increasing, but this figure is still low compared to historical numbers, which is helping to maintain property prices in Scotland.

Additionally, buyers are still active within the market, and there are still popular properties coming to market in many highly desirable areas. The presence of buyers ensures competition, which helps to maintain existing prices.

​Peter Ryder, managing director of Thorntons Property Services

The demand for flats is coming back as buyers realise that being present within communities, and within walking distance of amenities is advantageous. This push is coming from both first- and second-time buyers, as opposed to investors, who are beginning to feel the effect of legislation surrounding landlords.

Bungalows have also seen an increase in demand due to an ageing population who typically prefer living in a single-storey home.

We are also beginning to see the effects of the new short-term lets legislation in Edinburgh, which has led to a small number of landlords stepping away and placing their properties on the market. These are very early days, but I expect this will gather more momentum into next year.

At Thorntons, we brought several high-profile properties to market last year and sold more than 1,200 properties in total – making us one of the top estate agents in the country.

Initial competitive selling prices are vital to ensuring a property does sell, says Peter Ryder (Picture: stock.adobe.com)

Examples include Dunolly House, a historic nine-bedroom home on the banks of the River Tay that was built by Queen Victoria’s champion piper, which was offered for sale at £300k.

In April, we offered a unique opportunity to purchase a luxury Victorian duplex apartment with views overlooking the Old Course at St Andrews Links for offers over £1.95m. Spanning over 1850 ft2, the property was sympathetically renovated by American golf writer George Peper and attracted attention from across the globe.

We have a healthy mailing list of interested buyers and a pipeline of properties on our books as we come into 2024.

My prediction for 2024 is that there will be around one million house sales in the UK. While predictions have been made that house prices will fall throughout the year, the activity of buyers within the market and the lower-than-normal housing stock in Scotland will result in prices staying at similar levels.

Peter Ryder, managing director of Thorntons Property Services