North east leading Scots property sales growth, Aberdein Considine reports

Sales in the Scottish residential property market have defied Brexit uncertainty to reach their highest level since the credit crunch, according to new figures from Aberdein Considine.

The legal firm's Property Monitor report states that homes collectively worth £3.4bn changed hands during January, February and March this year – the highest since 2008.

The total for the quarter is up £80m (2.3%) on last year and £225m (7%) on 2016, just before the vote to leave the European Union.

Despite predictions of a slowdown given the continued parliamentary deadlock over the Brexit outcome, volume in the quarter was up 2.8% at 19,491 Scottish homes sold.

Growth was led by Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and East Lothian, with sales up by nearly 13% in the Granite City – though recent figures from Registers of Scotland have regularly put the north east among the poorest performing areas as the region struggles to recover from the effect of oil prices that remain well below 2014 levels. East Lothian saw total sales value grow by 38%; and West Lothian also performed well, with 12% sales growth contributing to a 19% overall rise.

Price growth has however slowed over the last year, with the national average of £166,334 just 0.2% higher than the same period in 2018, though 8.6% up on 2016. The average has fallen in Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as Aberdeen, but the revival of Dundee as an economic and cultural centre continues to feed through to price growth.

Aberdein Considine managing partner Jacqueline Law said the report showed that Scots were "getting on with their lives" amid the political uncertainty.

"It had been feared that Brexit may bring the property market to a halt", she commented. "However, quite the opposite has turned out to be true so far with the value of property changing hands returning to near-record levels.

"In fact, the only time that first quarter sales have been higher was in the years leading up to the global financial crisis.

"Businesses and consumers across Scotland can’t escape the uncertainty which Brexit is creating, but what is clear is that people are getting on with their lives whilst the politicians try and resolve the situation, which we hope will be sooner rather than later."

For the first time, the Property Monitor report also include research on levels of personal debt in Scotland. All but one of Scotland’s 16 postcode regions have managed to cut the amount owed to lenders through personal loans, with unsecured loan debt across the country down 8.3% year on year, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire leading the way. Overall, debt levels in Scotland are falling at twice the UK average.