Solicitor and estate agents records year-on-year rise with market holding strong – and prices significantly ahead of pre-pandemic level
AVERAGE house prices in Edinburgh are more than £60,000 higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic, city-based solicitors and estate agents Lindsays has found.
And the firm says that prices across Edinburgh and throughout the Lothians show no signs of dropping – with values remaining stable and strong.
Lindsays has revealed that the average price of homes it sold through its Edinburgh office in the 2022-23 financial year was £322,250. That compared to £259,893 in 2019-2020. The firm’s average price in 2021/22 was £314,798.
After two years of unprecedented activity since the nation emerged from the first coronavirus lockdown in 2020, its estate agency team says volumes have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Maurice Allan, Managing Director of Lindsays’ Residential Property department, said: “We’ve read lots of headlines about house prices dropping. We’re not seeing that.
“Edinburgh – as with other parts of Scotland – is bucking the trend that’s being reported elsewhere.
“We’re not in a market where prices are dropping. In fact, it’s a market that’s pretty solid.
“Family houses are continuing to enjoy strong attention and are going for real premiums.
“After a couple of quite remarkable years, we are seeing the market return to more normal levels of activity, last seen really in 2019.”
Property prices rose rapidly as the market intensified amid incredible demand following the lockdowns.
Activity began cooling in the face of political and financial instability last year, which saw interest rates – which had been at historic lows for a number of years – increase, coupled with the rising cost of living.
But this has not led to a drop in prices across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
Mr Allan added: “For the vast majority of properties, prices are holding up well. What we’re not seeing now, however, are the extremes that we experienced in a relatively small part of the market when competition was at its most intense.
“We are not finding that properties are selling below their home report valuation. And properties are selling. Finance is still available for people – and many people still have healthy deposits.
“The issue is not whether people are worried about being able to afford to move, it’s whether they can find the right property to suit their circumstances, whether that be needing a bigger home, downsizing or relocating.
“If they can find the right property to move to, they will put their current home on the market. It’s a supply and demand issue.
“Most people are trading in the same market. So, if someone finds the right home and they are ready, we are finding they just go for it.”
In Dundee, where Lindsays’ estate agency team also operates, the average prices of homes sold in the 2022-23 financial year was £205,790. That compared to £161,786 in 2019-2020. The firm’s average price in 2021/22 was £181,849.
The current Bank of England interest base rate is 4.25%. Some mortgage market analysts have stated that they expect mortgage rates to gradually decline throughout the year, even if interest rates go up.
According to solicitor estate agents’ collective ESPC, the average selling price of property across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife, and the Borders rose 1% to £270,284 during January to March this year.
Its members recorded the average property achieving 102.8% of Home Report valuation at sale.
