The Perthshire property scene ended the year on a positive note, according to local solicitors.
Perthshire Solicitors Property Centre’s year-end statistics reveal that more than £146 million worth of homes were sold during 2011, a total of 890 properties with the average house price just over £164,000.
The figures also show that the first half of December experienced a peak in activity, with 51 house sales concluded, bucking the national and typical winter trends.
Reflecting on the year-end figures, PSPC chairman Alastair Anderson said: ”Although the national property climate remains poor, the fact remains that we have sold 890 properties this year.
”Furthermore, the average house price throughout 2011 has remained steady and has not dropped, largely because sales within the middle market have remained stable.
”However, at the other end of the market, and coinciding with the national trend, there are also less first-time buyers in Perthshire due to the lending policies of banks and their requirement for higher deposits.”
As for the year ahead, PSPC Manager Anne Begg is urging home-sellers to be positive yet patient.
”Our message to those considering selling their home in 2012 is that their property will sell but might take a little longer than we would like,” she said.
”Sellers should also be realistic about the price they are likely to achieve. We are expecting the local market to remain roughly the same, with no dramatic recovery but, likewise, no dramatic downturn.
”People will always need to buy and sell and there is a market out there.”
Other data released recently showed that Perth had experienced one of the biggest average house price rises in the UK over the past year.
According to new research by the Bank of Scotland house prices in Perth rose by 6% in 2011 over the previous year.
At the top end of the market it was also revealed that a street in Perthshire is one of the most expensive in Scotland.
According to house price data compiled by the Registers of Scotland, The Queen’s Crescent in the grounds of Gleneagles Hotel is fifth on the list of most expensive streets with an average property costing £1,188,000.
In other good news for Perth and Kinross, and people trying to sell property, the area also made it into the top 10 in a Quality of Life survey which charts the best place to live in Scotland.