Tayside Bucking Property Trend

31/05/2012

THE TAYSIDE property market has bucked Scotland's national housing market trend by showing an increase in the number of house sales over the last half year.

As the Scottish market remains in the doldrums, TSPC manager Peter Ryder said yesterday that the last six to seven months in Dundee have been good.

Lloyds TSB Scotland statistics for the last three months showed a drop in national average price for a domestic property by 2.7% and on an annual, underlying basis, that Scottish house prices have fallen by 4.4%.

For March, the number of transactions was up by 2.1% on the same month in 2011, but the bank attributed the uplift in the first three months of 2012 to the withdrawal of the stamp duty concession at the end of March.

But Mr Ryder said the picture in the Dundee area shows a more significant increase, with sale numbers rising every month for the last seven months.

"Between January and May the number of sales, compared to last year, have actually increased by around 30%" he said.

"This is a pretty significant increase and shows that, in Tayside, house-buyers are actually quite positive about the market."

"There is certainly signs of local market recovery"

Meanwhile research by the Bank of Scotland shows Scotland has seen the smallest increase in house prices across the UK in the last 40 years.

The cost of buying a property has risen by 91% in real terms since 1971, below the UK average of 144%.

Printed in the Dundee Courier, 31 May 2012

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