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Scots house prices buck national trend

by Graeme Smith© The Herald
Originally published: 12.03.2008

Scottish house prices are bucking the national trend as surveyors in England and Wales report falling housing prices by the worst margin since the market crashed in 1990, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said yesterday.

Some 37% of surveyors in Scotland reported price rises, 51% said prices remained the same and 12% reported a fall, giving a net balance of 25%, compared to 5% in January.

Only 4% of surveyors in the rest of the UK reported prices rising in February while 57% said they were falling, a net balance of -53% which was just 1% better than in January.

The figures from the institute's UK Housing Market Survey indicate that Scotland remains the most buoyant market in the UK.

With gloom and doom elsewhere, house prices in Scotland increased at their fastest pace since October 2007.

New buyer inquiries rebounded sharply, increasing at their fastest pace since November 2007 and the number of sellers increased at the fastest pace since May 2007.