Property market took a beasting from poor weather

The Ayrshire property market was hit by the Beast from the East earlier this year, causing a significant slowdown in house sales.

However, the sector is bouncing back after very poor weather earlier this year, according to independent property consultancy Galbraith.

The firm has published its Ayrshire sales report for the second quarter of 2018 (April to June) which showed a drop in sales, year on year. The firm’s sales for July and August are likely to be higher than in 2017, however, as those who had delayed putting their property on the market did so after a delayed start to the house buying season.

The majority of the firm’s sales are premium properties, generally in rural areas.

Bob Cherry, who leads the residential sales team for Galbraith in Ayr, said: ‘Anyone thinking of putting their house on the market in April was put off by the fact that the extreme snowfall and prolonged cold weather had left their gardens or land looking very much the worse for wear! Property sales often rely on attractive images and when you can’t create a good photo, it’s not ideal.

‘Most of those people delayed selling their home, but many did go ahead with a planned sale in June, after the gardens had recovered and we were all bathed in glorious sunshine.

‘For this reason, the number of properties which came on the market in Ayrshire rose by 123% quarter on quarter and more than tripled year on year. The number of market appraisals we carried out in Ayrshire increased by 50% on last year too.

‘The number of people registering to buy property through Galbraith also rose by 26% year on year and by 86% quarter on quarter. This shows that the market picked up and actually rose above its typical level later in the season, after a very slow start.

‘The underlying trend is quite strong, and we are seeing encouraging signs of buyer confidence which we expect to last for the rest of the summer and into autumn.’

The Ayrshire office has handled a high volume of premium property sales, with the average price of property sold by the firm in Ayrshire standing at £324,444. The average price, for Scotland as a whole, is £149,004 according to the government’s UK House Price Index.

Scottish property prices rose by 4.9% year on year, according to the UK House Price Index. Edinburgh was the most expensive place to buy a home in the second quarter of 2018 while East Ayrshire was the cheapest, with an average price of £95,000.

Across Scotland as a whole, Galbraith handles over £54 million worth of property sales per quarter.

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