The value of homes sold by our estate agency and legal firm has topped £200m for the first time. The new record high was achieved amid continued intense bidding among buyers as property demand outstrips supply in many areas.
We completed sales of homes worth a combined total of £207m in the financial year 2021/22, from its offices in Edinburgh and Dundee, up from £177m in 2020/21 - an increase of almost 17%. That rise - representing sales of £17.2m-a-month - is fuelled largely by competition in the capital. The total number of properties sold was 1% higher than the record-breaking transactions recorded 12 months earlier.
While the number of sales by our property team in Edinburgh increased 2.3%, the total values jumped by a quarter from £102.5m to £129.6m (26.4%). The average house price in Edinburgh was £314,798. Notable sales in the capital included a detached five-bedroom house in Craiglockhart, which sold for £720,000 - £190,000 over its asking price and 31% higher than its home report valuation. There were 60 viewings of it with 11 offers received.
In Dundee, the market remained buoyant with values up to £77.4m from £74.8m (3.5%). The average sale price was £181,849.
Andrew Diamond, Partner and Head of Residential Property states: “It’s been an extremely busy year. We are delighted with the results we have achieved.
“The competition we are seeing in Edinburgh is quite phenomenal and shows no signs of slowing in the short-term. It’s not unusual to have between 10 and 15 potential purchasers bidding on a property. That’s driving the prices up. As things stand, there’s more demand than there is supply, which is why people are going further with their bids.
“Those looking to sell houses can expect to achieve a solid return across most areas of Edinburgh right now.”
It appears that lifestyle decisions made during the Covid-19 pandemic - with more people looking for homes with gardens as they work from home - have been an ongoing factor in the continued competition across much of the last financial year.
Latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show that house prices in Scotland rose by an average 11.7% to £181,000 in February. That’s higher than the UK average rise of 10.9%.