THE value of Scotland’s property market is on course to top £18 billion for the second consecutive year – despite increasing homeowner anxiety over Brexit .

New housing figures from Aberdein Considine show that sales hit £5.3bn during quarter three in 2019, up by £100million on the same time last year. More than 28,000 homes changed hands during the quarter, according to the firm’s Property Monitor, bringing the total value of sales in 2019 to £13.3bn.

However, the figures come against a backdrop of rising anxiety over the impact the UK’s exit from the EU will have on the value of homes. A major poll of homeowners carried out by the law firm shows 50% of Scots fear their property will decrease in value after Brexit.

Jacqueline Law, managing partner at Aberdein Considine said: “There has, over the third quarter of the year, been a sharp increase in the number of Scots who fear that Brexit will result in the value of their home decreasing. This is perhaps unsurprising given the Prime Minister’s No-Deal brinkmanship throughout the month of October, combined with warnings from the Bank of England governor on the damage No Deal would do, particularly to the housing market.

“There is clearly homeowner anxiety around Brexit, but this has yet to be reflected in sales figures, perhaps due to the greater public having little idea what Brexit will actually look like. With another extension in place, we would expect to see these fears ease in Q4 as a new Parliament is elected. The make-up of that parliament will have a big say on what market sentiment will be going into Q1 of next year.”

With average quarterly increases during 2019 of almost 3.5%, another similar uplift in the final quarter would mean sales reaching close to £19bn – beating last year’s record. Q4 rises for both 2018 and 2017 were 7.7% and 3.3% respectively.

A total of 20 local authority areas saw the value of homes sold rise, with the Western Isles registering the biggest increase at 24%. Edinburgh remains the largest market in Scotland, with £860million in sales, a rise of 4%. It was a similar picture the capital’s suburbs, with Midlothian (up 22%), West Lothian (up 12%) and East Lothian (up 10%) all recording rising sale values.

Areas beyond the traditional powerhouse markets of Edinburgh and Glasgow also helped boost sale figures, with Stirling up almost 13%, and Dundee rising 3.4%.

The north east continued its emergence from the oil and gas downturn, with sales in Aberdeenshire up 4.1%, while the overall value of property sold in Aberdeen and the surrounding region hit almost £1.2bn for the year, an annual rise of £24m.

Average prices throughout the country were buoyant, and not just in Edinburgh, where the figure rose by 2.5% to £273,604. Some 21 local authorities saw an uplift, with 72% of people paying the full home report value or above.

Overall, the number of homes sold was down slightly, 0.1%, with Glasgow registering the highest volume of sales at 3287.

Meanwhile, in the UK as a whole, the number of new house sellers coming to market has been shrinking at the fastest rate in a decade. A Rightmove study found there were 14.9% fewer new properties coming to market in November than a year ago, in what was the largest year-on-year slump in any month since August 2009.

Sellers are being deterred by “lacklustre price growth” amid ongoing political uncertainty, according to Rightmove.