Hot spots such as St Andrews are leading estate agency Savills to predict Scotland’s luxury housing market will outpace anywhere else in the UK.
Savills’ Prime UK Residential Spring Summer 2021 report says Scotland’s prime residential property market looks set to overtake London’s over the next five years.
The estate agency also predicts Scotland will have the highest house price increases in the UK, anticipating an uplift of 22.8% by 2026.
One of the towns fuelling this surge is St Andrews. Already an expensive place to live, St Andrews has seen prices roar and is now the highest value town in Scotland.
The average price of a home in the coastal town is £398,280. That makes buying a property in the home of golf almost 75% more expensive than purchasing an equivalent house elsewhere in Fife.
Hamilton Grand
One of the properties at the forefront of Scotland’s luxury housing boom is the Hamilton Grand. The development of 26 luxury apartments in an iconic red sandstone building overlooks the 18th hole of the Old Course. A rooftop deck is the perfect place to watch major golf tournaments from, or enjoy seeing the sun rise over West Sands Beach.
The development contains some of Scotland’s most expensive flats. According to Savills’ report, apartments in the building sell for £1,500 per square foot – on a par with prices in prime parts of London.
Some properties in the development have been sold on the back of virtual viewings, with buyers not setting foot inside until they’ve completed the purchase.
Number 22 sold for £2 million on December 23 last year, having previously been bought for £1,350,000 in 2015.
Last year, 18 and 21 Hamilton Grand sold for £1,025,000 and £1.3 million respectively. Number 20 Hamilton Grand was purchased for £3,030,000 in 2016 while 15 Hamilton Grand went for £2.6 million the previous year.
The lockdown Scotland endured in the first quarter of the year caused many buyers to put their plans on hold. However March and April saw the sale and purchase of homes costing upwards of £1 million soar by 94% and 112% above normal levels.
