Scotland property market outperforms London

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by Kay Murchie

A survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has established that property prices are falling in London but are steady in Scotland, evidence that the north of the border is bucking the trend.

Over 50% of surveyors in London have seen prices fall since late last year, compared with just 20% in Scotland.

In addition, surveyors in Scotland said there was higher demand for commercial property which resulted in rent increases.

Furthermore over the last 12 months, construction in Scotland increased compared with a decline in London.

Graeme Hartley of Rics said Scotland has been bucking the UK trend of falling house prices throughout much of last year and is now outperforming London in the number of new construction projects and demand for commercial property.

Mr Hartley added that there is uncertainty surrounding the global economy but the figures from the RICS surveys offer Scotland some positive news. Investors have confidence in Scotland, businesses want to set up here and employment has increased by 2.2% over the last year.

Traditionally, changes in the property market ripple out from London and the changes take a long time to impact Scotland. So the fact the slowdown in England hasn’t impacted Scotland yet is no surprise.