Scottish home owners believe price boom to come over six months

Home owners' confidence in the property market has been boosted, with a new survey suggesting almost nine in ten Scots expect the price of their real estate to climb this year.

Picture: TSPL

Some 87 per cent of Scottish home owners expect property values in their area to increase over the coming six months – up from 70 per cent when similar research was carried out in November.

Across Britain, only one in 12 (8 per cent) of people in the latest survey carried out by property website Zoopla expect prices to fall in their area over the next six months.

On average, those Scots expecting price rises predict an 8.6 per cent uplift over the coming six months – an increase compared with the November study, when the typical expectation across Britain was 4.9 per cent.

Zoopla spokesman Lawrence Hall said: “It’s encouraging to see a bounce-back in consumer confidence in the market. It’s the largest increase we’ve seen since 2016.

“This shows that home owners are starting to regain their confidence in the property market, with those in the east of the UK having the most optimism.”

North-east England is the least confident region, with just under two thirds (63 per cent) expecting rises, although this remains a big increase for the region compared with November when less than half (41 per cent) thought values in their area would increase.

London was the next least confident region after England’s north-east, with just more than three quarters (76 per cent) of home owners expecting prices to rise in their area.

The findings were released after another property website Rightmove reported this week the average price tag on a home reached a record high of £308,075 on average in May.

However, Rightmove warned the housing market was becoming “increasingly price-sensitive”.

The website also said different property markets were still operating at different speeds.

Zoopla found when it comes to how much home owners think prices will increase by, those in the West Midlands were the most confident, predicting values in their area would rise by 10.6 per cent over the next six months on average.

More than 1,950 home owners were surveyed.