Edinburgh Housing Market Report: September 2018

There are further signs that the property market in Edinburgh and the Lothians has started to cool after a red hot start to the year. For much of the first half of 2018, the number of buyers looking to secure a home vastly outnumbered the number of properties for sale in Edinburgh and the Lothians. This resulted in most homes selling quickly and for values that were often well in excess of the Home Report valuation.

More recently the number of homes coming onto the market has risen. In the three months from June to August, the number of properties brought to the market by Warners was 22% higher than during the same period a year ago. This has led to there being a better balance between supply and demand, meaning that the premiums that buyers are having to pay to secure a property are not as high as they were a year ago.

In 2018, during the three months to August the average premium paid above Home Report valuation to secure a property stood at 5.8%. Although this figure is high by historical standards, it does represent a decrease from the level of 7.1% recorded during the same period a year ago.

Commenting on the results David Marshall, Operations Director with Warners explained: "There have been a couple of factors at play here. In the first instance, many sellers who had delayed putting their home onto the market have now decided to take the plunge. In some cases they will have been tempted to do so by the buoyant market over the last 18 months, and in other cases they simply will have been unable to delay moving any longer due to family reasons.

"The major issue facing the market over the last year and a half has been a lack of properties for sale. Many potential sellers have been delaying putting their own property onto the market until they found a property that they wished to buy which created something of a vicious circle, so it is good news for the market that this shortage of supply has been alleviated somewhat.

"At the same time, buyer activity has dipped a little during the last two or three months. In part this was inevitable as the high levels of activity seen throughout 2017 and during the first half of 2018 are simply not sustainable over the longer term.

"Looking ahead to the remainder of 2018 we would expect to see the market continue to return to a more balanced state. The number of homes available for sale should be higher than we saw at the end of 2016 and 2017, giving buyers a little more leverage in negotiations than they have had recently."

If you have a question about the property market or if you are thinking of buying or selling a property, get in touch with Warners today on 0131 667 0232 or by emailing us at property@warnersllp.com and one of our friendly, expert team will be delighted to help.