Move Quick welcomes new ONS figures which show an end to gloom housing market
(PRWEB UK) 7 April 2014 -- House prices in Scotland are in creasing at such a rate, the seven-year recession may soon be a distant memory.
At just under £160,000, the average price of a home north of the border is now merely six per cent short of its highest point, last seen in 2007.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics (released April 2014) show this mean figure rose by 1.45 per cent in 2013, while overall prices for the UK jumped by 6.8 per cent. This is the fastest increase in three-and-a-half years.
Further evidence of an improving market comes with the news that house prices are now six per cent higher than they were at the worst point of the recession in 2008.
Barry Chuwen of estate agents Move Quick said everything pointed to this upward trend continuing.
He said: "We are now seeing the true benefits of a range of intervention measures taken to stimulate the housing market.
“On top of that, there is a general improvement in confidence out there, encouraging more people to buy for the first time or move upmarket.
“The start of 2014 has been phenomenal for Move Quick. Some properties have only been on our books for days before attracting a buyer.
“And we are now beginning to see a shortage of available properties in some areas, which is bound to push up prices even faster.”
The so-called ‘Reality Gap’ is closing, too. That’s the difference between the price a house is advertised at and the amount it actually sells for.
At the beginning of 2013, the average house being advertised at £165,000 was actually selling for below £150,000.
But through the year, ‘asking’ prices fell and prices achieved increased, narrowing this ‘gap’ to just two per cent.
This resulted in Scotland’s average house price sale rising from £148,218 at the start of the year to £159,670 by the end.
Added Move Quick’s Barry Chuwen: "No-one is suggesting that the market is heading for boom times – but we have certainly left behind gloom times.
“While other parts of the UK are predicted to be heading for a house price ‘bubble’ – something that doesn’t help anyone – Scotland’s progress is steady and sure.
“In the past, this has meant Scots avoiding a house price crash, a fate that has befallen other ‘overheated’ parts of the country.”
Jenny Chuwen, Move Quick Estate Agency Limited, http://www.movequick.com, +44 800 074 8585, [email protected]
Share this article