Beast from the East impacts on east central Scotland property market

ESPC recorded a 10.1 per cent decrease in the number of properties brought to market between January and March 2018, compared to the same time last year.

While there has been continued decreases in the number of properties being brought to market over the last year, these latest statistics are much more pronounced, and are likely to be attributed to businesses being closed, and sellers unable to list their properties on the days with heavy snow. Sellers may also have been likely to have delayed the process until the snow cleared.

Selling prices in Edinburgh have continued their upward trajectory, with average selling prices increasing by 7.2 per cent to £250,875, over the last three months.

Some areas have been more marked. The areas with the largest year-on-year increases in average selling prices were two bedroom flats in Portobello and Joppa, with a 49.4 per cent increase.

After the first quarter of 2017, average selling prices of two bedroom flats in Portobello and Joppa jumped above the £200,000 mark and have stayed there ever since. This is also true of three bedroom houses in Liberton / Gilmerton, with a 40.5 per cent increase in average selling prices year-on-year, proving that these areas are particular hotspots.

One bedroom flats in Dalry, Gorgie, Slateford and Chesser are continuing a trend in soaring average selling prices, with a 24.1% year-on-year increase – from £115,314 to £143,127.

The types of properties that have been selling the most in this three month period have been one and two bedroom flats in Leith, which is an area that is traditionally abundant with this type of property.

Midlothian, West Lothian and East Fife are also demonstrating increased average selling prices, at 13.1 per cent and 10.3 per cent respectively, while East Lothian has a slight decrease of 0.5 per cent and Dunfermline decreased by 5.2 per cent.

Maria Botha-Lopez, business analyst at ESPC, said: “As well as shutting down services in east central Scotland, the heavy snow at the beginning of March also appears to have had an impact on the property market. While we have seen a shortage of properties being brought to market for some time now, a stalling in properties being listed has had a pronounced effect.

“The shortage of properties is particularly being felt with increasing average selling prices, typically in hot spots like Portobello, Gorgie and Leith. This could prove discouraging for those looking to buy a home, and so we really need more stock available to help stabilise the market.”