Property sales pick up but market needs first-timers

A Tayside property expert has predicted a rise in local house prices from next summer as the number of first-time buyers increases.

Lindsay Darroch, head of property at Blackadders, is also confident of sustained recovery by summer 2015.

He said: “I think we will continue to see an improving housing market with activity levels rising. From the summer of 2014, I would expect to see a rise in property prices as the number of first-time buyers increases.

“The consequence of this will be a greater willingness from lenders to fund developers, which will have a positive impact not only in the housing market but on the economy as a whole.”

Mr Darroch said that market activity in the past 12 months has increased by about 20% to 25%.

He said: “Although we have seen an increase in the number of closing dates, prices have stabilised, not increased.

“Sellers are now more realistic about their price expectations and this has contributed to improving the Scottish housing market.

“This realism has been driven by an appreciation that, if they are moving up in the property market, the price paid or received is not as important as the cost of change.”