HOUSE price growth across the UK has stagnated for eight months, according to new figures from the Land Registry and ONS.
The average selling price rose 1.4% in the year to April, down from 1.6% in the previous month.
And in Scotland, the market “retains the dubious honour of being even more polarised than England’s”, according to Jonathan Hopper, managing director of Edinburgh-based Garrington Property Finders.
He continued: “Aberdeen’s price correction continues unabated. Average property values in the city fell by a painful 6.2% in the 12 months to April, and the market is only now bottoming out.
“Meanwhile at the opposite extreme, prices are rising by an even greater amount. Even discounting the double-digit growth figures recorded in the Western Isles, prices in Stirling and North Ayrshire are rising at levels un-dreamt of in England.
“The net effect of such polar opposites is to produce a national average pace of price growth which, at 1.6%, is similar to the UK’s average – and is just as useless as a guide to your local market.
“Scotland’s market as a whole has found its feet, with buyer demand stabilising and activity levels picking up. Such huge differences in price growth are throwing up pockets of opportunity for astute buyers, both in the Central Belt and beyond.
“The Brexit hiatus has helped accelerate this year’s spring bounce, and on the front line we’re seeing increasing numbers of value-conscious buyers get off the fence and press ahead with their plans.”
Howard Archer, chief economic adviser to the EY ITEM Club, also warned of disruption to the market from Brexit, adding that any boost to the market from the avoidance of leaving the EU in March would be “limited in both size and length”.
He continued: “Consumers may well be particularly cautious about committing to buying a house, especially as house prices are relatively expensive relative to incomes. Also it looks questionable whether the labour market and earnings growth will sustain their recent strength as companies tailor their behaviour to a relatively lacklustre domestic economy, prolonged Brexit uncertainties and a challenging global environment.”
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