‘Aberdeen property showing encouraging signs of activity’

The Aberdeen property market continues to show encouraging signs of activity, according to latest figures released by independent property consultancy, CKD Galbraith.

The firm’s regional office in Cults, says it has been successful in bringing more properties to the market in Aberdeenshire as well as reducing the average time taken to sell a property by almost three weeks.

CKD Galbraith’s Aberdeen statistics from the final quarter of 2015 (Q4 Oct - Dec 2015) show:

• Supply of properties coming onto the market increased by 50 per cent on Q3 figures

• Average time taken to sell a property was down by 32.75 per cent (almost three weeks) compared the previous quarter of 2015

Hannah Christiansen, head of residential at CKD Galbraith’s Aberdeen office, said: “The Aberdeenshire property market has continued to show positive results throughout the final quarter of 2015 despite the downturn in the oil and gas Industry in Aberdeen. We have been greatly encouraged by the increase in the number of properties coming onto the market and there has been a healthy appetite from buyers viewing properties.

“Good properties at the lower end of the market continue to sell well, with good viewing levels and strong offers whilst the higher end of the market does continue to move, albeit its taking slightly longer. People are still moving home in Aberdeen and excellent property, in both city and rural locations, continue to be in demand.

“The industry-wide figures for sales in Aberdeen over the previous quarter have been down across the industry, as reported by the latest Registers of Scotland figures. However, we have witnessed a strong start to the year and as we enter the prime Spring selling period we are confident the market will see healthy activity with a flurry of properties for sale prior to the introduction of the 3 per cent levy on second homes coming into place in April.”

The latest Registers of Scotland report outlined that from October to December 2015, the total volume of residential property sales in Scotland increased by 14.5 per cent compared with the same period in the previous year. The average property price in the quarter was £167,734 an increase of 1.6 per cent compared to the previous year.

CKD Galbraith operates a network of regional offices located throughout the country and figures for the firm as a whole, over the same period, reflect this national trend with a 17 per cent increase in the volume of sales achieved in comparison to the same period last year and the average value of property sold by the firm being £384,000, an increasing of 19.8 per cent on the same quarter of 2014.