CKD Galbraith: Scotland’s housing market showing encouraging signs of activity

April 5, 2011 - PRLog -- Ayrshire, Scotland--Scotland’s leading independent property consultancy CKD Galbraith reports positive activity in the residential property market, following research conducted by the firm for the first three months of 2011.

Confidence is starting to return to the market, with agents across all twelve of the firm’s offices providing market appraisals on 40% more properties over the first three months of 2011 against the same period last year.

The number of properties sold or currently under offer is also up 49% for the firm as a whole on this time last year. In addition, there has been an increase in the number of prospective purchasers registering with CKD Galbraith, with over 4,500 actively seeking a wide range of properties throughout the whole of Scotland.

Throughout 2010 CKD Galbraith sold property in excess £250 million - covering the sale of residential, sporting, estates and rural property throughout the whole of Scotland. Prices achieved for all properties sold by the firm during 2010 were on average within 0.5% of the asking price, highlighting the firm’s unrivalled local knowledge of the market and expertise in setting prudent valuations.

Latest figures from the Registers of Scotland revealed that Scotland's property prices held their value in the final quarter of 2010, with the average house price just over £158,000, an increase of 1.7%.  

Bob Cherry, partner at CKD Galbraith’s Ayr office said: “Our findings have given us good reason to believe that, as we enter the main selling season, the market looks far more favourable than last year. We have been successful in winning a significant level of new business across all 12 of our offices in Scotland, and it is encouraging to see overall transaction levels up by over 49%.  

“Buyers are serious about purchasing, assuming the property is accurately priced, as the market is still very much price sensitive. However, quality properties in good sought after locations are attracting a lot of interest and selling well, with many achieving deals over the asking price. In general we expect prices to remain relatively stable during 2011.

“At the other end of the market, there has been clear evidence of a substantial increase across Scotland for first time buyers ready to purchase, with a significant increase over the last year of active buyers in this market registering with us. With the recent announcement of the assisted deposit scheme for first time buyers and an increased appetite to buy from this segment, this will provide a much needed boost for the market as a whole.”

For properties valued above £500,000, cash is often used to secure deals at a good price, enabling the buyers to lock cash in bricks and mortar with no liabilities, a trend experienced by CKD Galbraith. Cash buyers registered on the firm’s advanced marketing database are up by a staggering 72% on last year’s figures.

However, for prospective purchasers requiring a mortgage, latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) indicated that house purchase lending in Scotland in 2010 was typically more affordable than in the UK as a whole. 2010 saw 46,800 loans advanced for house purchase in Scotland, an encouraging figure, being only less than 1% down from 2009.

With the mortgage market still unpredictable, supply of funds remains limited and buyers are understandably cautious about taking on extra borrowing. Overall lending forecasts for 2011 are likely to follow a similar level to 2010, with the CML suggesting that gross mortgage lending in 2011 will total around £135 billion. However, over the past few months there has been evidence of increased support and competition from private banks for loans in excess of £1 million.

About CKD Galbraith:

CKD Galbraith is an independent property consultancy specialising in serving the needs of private clients. It employs over 180 people in offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Cupar, Inverness, Aberfeldy, Castle Douglas, Ayr, Elgin, Galashiels, Kelso and Peebles.

The partnership provides the full range of property consulting services across the commercial, residential and rural sectors throughout Scotland. The company enjoys a successful relationship with its associate firm in London, CKD Kennedy Macpherson.

The company’s rural arm specialises in farm sales and purchases, the management and sale of large estates and woodland, valuations and building surveying work.

Contact:

CKD Galbraith
7 Killoch Place
Ayr KA7 2EA
Ayrshire, Scotland
Contact: R A Cherry BSc MRICS

Tel: 01292 268181
Fax: 01292 292300
E-mail: bob.cherry@ckdgalbraith.co.uk
Web: http://www.ckdgalbraith.co.uk

THE ELITE AYRSHIRE BUSINESS CIRCLE

CKD Galbraith’s Ayr Office is a founder member of the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle.

The Elite Ayrshire Business Circle is an association founded in 2007 by some of the top companies in Ayrshire.

Its purpose is to publicise its members, and to celebrate and promote the wealth and rich diversity of entrepreneurial talent and business excellence that abounds here within the county boundaries of Ayrshire.

Members include the Clydesdale Bank, Ayr Racecourse, Western House Hotel, Turnberry Golf Resort and South Ayrshire Council. Member company activities include broadcasting, building and construction, architectural practice, estate agency and land management, chartered accountancy, insurance broking, legal services, golf club management, marketing services and brand creation, web design and public relations consultancy.

Frazer Coogans Commercial Solicitors senior partner Norman Geddes is executive chairman of the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, and managing director is public relations consultancy Fame Publicity Services proprietor Murdoch MacDonald.

For further information about The Elite Ayrshire Business Circle and to apply for membership, e-mail eliteayrshire@gmail.com  

Website: http://www.eliteayrshire.com

Issued by:

Murdoch MacDonald
Fame Publicity Services
10 Miller Road
AYR, Ayrshire
Scotland KA7 2AY

E-mail FamePublicity@aol.com
Web: http://www.famepublicity.co.uk
Telephone: 01292 281498
Mobile: 07833 667322

# # #

Wherever you are in the world, no other public relations consultancy, PR firm or publicity company can offer you a better or more cost-effective worldwide news distribution service, combined with search engine optimisation techniques that will drive customers and qualified sales leads to your company's website.

Fame Publicity Services was founded in September 2003 by husband and wife team Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald.

Murdoch is one of Scotland's top PR consultants, having worked successfully in the profession for more than 35 years.

Use of Fame Publicity's groundbreaking and cutting edge PR techniques is guaranteed to help your company to source new business in these difficult times!