Phil Harris
Property expert Phil Harris, a director at Shepherd and Wedderburn’s private wealth & tax team, discusses the state of the Scottish housing market in 2022 and what to expect in 2023, as volumes appear to return to pre-pandemic levels.
The 2022 Scottish housing market and in particular that of Edinburgh, Glasgow and its surrounding areas seemed set in late summer to be ready to coast to the end of the year in relatively good fettle; however, like December’s football World Cup Final, there was some unforeseen drama ahead.
The impact of the UK being headed up by three Prime Ministers in just over six weeks, a challenging economy and the biggest interest rate rise in several years lead to many mortgage products being pulled, with a similar negative reaction in the financial markets. Coupled with a growing cost of living crisis, where did the Scottish housing market end the year and what can we expect from 2023?
Interest in the property market remained strong according to the year-end data from the ESPC: “Activity levels for this time of year are very close to those seen in 2019, which was really the last year of normality before the pandemic, so this should provide some reassurance to buyers that the market is continuing to perform well despite speculation to the contrary.”
This was backed up by figures produced for the final quarter of the year; the average selling price of property across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders rose 8.8 per cent year-on-year to £294,419, with properties attaining 107 per cent of their Home Report valuations at sale, and 89.7 per cent of properties selling for their home Report valuation or higher. it is also worth noting that closing dates remain particularly popular in the major