News In Focus
9 September 2010
Family homes drive up property prices in Capital
A surge in large family house sales in Edinburgh during August has nudged the average sale price up by 11.2% year-on-year, to £229,098, according to the Edinburgh Solicitor Propery Centre. Properties with three or more bedrooms or more made up 37% of sales recorded in the capital, compared to 34% in the same period last year.
David Marshall, business analyst with ESPC, said: "It's important to realise that while the headline rate of inflation may currently be high at just over 11%, this does not mean that the value of an average home has increased by such a large amount over the last year.
"When you look at the average selling prices of properties of similar size this year compared to last, the underlying rates of inflation are much more modest.
"For example, the average price of a one-bedroom flat in Edinburgh has risen by 4% annually in the year-to-date whilst the average selling price of a three-bedroom house has risen by around 5%."
The number of homes sold in Edinburgh increased year-on-year for the seventh consecutive month, though there are signs that growth in demand is beginning to slow.
Marshall commented: "Although sales have been ahead of 2009 levels each month since February these increases should be viewed in context. The number of homes selling is still around 50% below that seen in the period leading up to the credit crunch.
"Over the course of the year, the supply of properties to the market has exceeded the number of sales. As a result, there are now considerably more properties available for sale than there were at the start of the year and this will afford buyers more power in negotiations than they had previously."