Record property sales for Edinburgh firm

Warners sells over £100 million worth in first half of 2006 as market turns upwards

News, 8 August 2006

Edinburgh legal firm Warners has passed a sales landmark in the property market.

The firm, which operates four property shops in the capital, sold more than £100 million worth of property in an "exceptionally busy" first six months of 2006.

Scott Brown, residential property partner, said while they thought the estate agency business had peaked in 2005, it now appeared that 2006 would surpass that record year.

He said: “In first six months of 2006, sales figures totalled approximately £105,500,000 in property value as opposed to £96,900,000 for same period in 2005. This the first time we’ve reached this landmark, which all the more remarkable as 2005 was a record year for us."

Mr Brown also reported a changing profile of property coming through the firm's books, with a noticeable rise in the number of appointments to handle the sales of property in the mid to high range £250-£500,000 and £500,000 to £1m price levels.

He added: “There’s no doubt that last year’s market was underlined by a degree of nervousness, which in truth was largely misplaced. It caused people to think twice about putting their property up for sale or to look to buy. Despite this, price rises remained solid and sustainable, but the most important thing of all was that the much-predicted crash didn’t happen.

“When we moved into 2006, there was a noticeable turn as people started to think very positively about the property market. This, allayed to the stability of interest rates and the strong employment conditions in Edinburgh, provided even more confidence. This mood of optimism has since continued at pace, so much so that we are seeing multiple numbers of people bidding for properties and prices going for significantly above offers-over levels.

“In one case, we had recently had over thirty offers at a closing date and the percentage of properties going to closing dates this year has increased rapidly.”