A Tayside property expert has predicted that house prices will remain relatively stable during the course of this year.
Giving his predictions for 2011, Lindsay Darroch, partner and head of property services at Blackadder’s, which has offices in Arbroath, Dundee and Forfar, said he is expecting this year to start slowly but to end on an upbeat note.
Mr Darroch has also urged both the Scottish and UK governments to take all steps possible to bolster the housing market for 2011.
He said, “The start of 2010 was anticipated to carry on a continuing upward trajectory just as 2009 had finished.
“This was slightly slowed down by the bad weather at the tail end of December 2009 and the start of January 2010, causing a slight dip in transactions in February.
“In general, between February and September, houses coming on to the market exceeded expectations and were on average about 20% higher than 2009.”
He added, “The figures for Dundee and Angus were slightly stronger and kept above line figures until November.
“The early snow at the end of November certainly curtailed market activity and this, linked with a number of negative press articles and a general feeling of economic uncertainty, caused the figures to dip further with market activity for December being about 20% less than December 2009.
“My feeling is that house prices did not show any remarkable drop and were relatively stable for 2010, however the caveat to this being that if you bought in 2007 the market has not yet reached those levels and also sellers in general are becoming more realistic regarding an achievable price for the property.”
Mr Darroch believes the first three months of 2011 will see property activity levels below those of 2010 due to a lingering Christmas hangover, continuing economic uncertainty and the government debt reduction plans starting to have an impact including the VAT increase, the rise in fuel costs, the National Insurance increase and the public sector spending cuts.
However, he said he anticipates a slight pick-up in the second quarter with 2010 levels being reached by the end of June.
Mr Darroch said, “Thereafter I would be expecting a strong last six months with 2011 ending on an upbeat note.
“Again, I would anticipate prices remaining relatively stable during the course of 2011.”
Mr Darroch’s wishes for 2011 include:Home reports being abolished or at least temporarily suspended. Tax breaks for property investors through pension legislation.