Brexit doubts hit house sales – but Scottish prices soar

The average price of a Scottish home is bucking the UK-wide trend, with asking prices climbing as the spring selling season begins.

Asking prices north of the Border have jumped by 3.1 per cent month on month – the biggest increase in March of all Britain’s nations and regions. The surge has been in contrast to the rest of the UK where an average home price is 0.8 per cent lower than it was a year ago, property website Rightmove has found.

Across Britain, the average asking price for a home in March is £302,002.

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While this is lower than a year ago, prices have edged up by 0.4 per cent or £1,287 month on month. Rightmove said this was the lowest month-on-month increase at this time of year since 2011 and “considerably lower” than the 0.9 per cent average increase seen over the past seven years.

Average prices have risen north of the border despite Brexit fears. Picture: Yui Mok/PA WireAverage prices have risen north of the border despite Brexit fears. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire
Average prices have risen north of the border despite Brexit fears. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire

The agency said the usual spring bounce in the housing market was, at best, being delayed by Brexit uncertainty as the 29 March withdrawal deadline approaches.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: “While March marks the start of spring, temperatures have yet to rise in the housing market.

“Buying activity remains cooler than usual, with hesitation as some buyers await a more settled political climate.

“There’s greater resilience the further away you get from the London market and there’s a sound bedrock of demand for the right property at the right price, reinforced by ongoing housing needs combined with cheap mortgage borrowing.”

The north-west of England has also defied the wider British trend, with a 2.2 per cent increase in asking prices.

The average house price in London is down 1.1 per cent on the previous month.

Rightmove said the number of sales agreed by estate agents last month was 7 per cent below the same period in 2018, compared with a year-on-year fall of 4 per cent recorded in January. But search activity on Rightmove remains steady, with the number of visits to the website staying level.

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Mr Shipside said: “The closer you get to the wire without the clarity of an agreed way forward, the greater the propensity for buyers to wait and see, rather than acting now.

“This could be a temporary pause and indeed market slowdowns at election time and around the original referendum result bounced back pretty quickly.”