Edinburgh housing market cools

There is likely to be more sellers in 2018,encouraged by a favourable 2017 which saw consistently rising house prices and more properties listed.

Edinburgh housing market cools

Edinburgh’s housing market is showing signs of settling down after a whirlwind 18 months, says Warners Solicitors and Estate Agents.

There is likely to be more sellers in 2018,encouraged by a favourable 2017 which saw consistently rising house prices and more properties listed.

David Marshall, operations director at Warners Solicitors and Estate Agents, said: “This is long awaited good news for buyers who have been at the sharp end of Edinburgh’s price rises and its undersupply of homes.

“The cooling in the market can partly be attributed to seasonal factors, but, more importantly, there has been a rise in the number of properties coming onto the market.”

During the last three months of 2017, Warners recorded a 13% annual rise in the number of properties being brought to the market for sale.

The average selling price was 5.4% over their home report valuation during the final quarter of the year, down from 6.0% in the preceding three months.

Marshall added: “The increase in new listings is significant because the main factor driving the seller’s market over the last two years has been that lack of supply. Demand from buyers has consistently outstripped the supply of homes for sale.

“As a result the homes that were available for sale generally attracted a large number of buyers, resulting in the low selling times and high premiums that characterised the market.

“With more homes now coming onto the market, there is greater competition between sellers leading to the cooling in selling times and premiums that we have seen recently.”

It is predicted that the annual house price inflation in 2018 is to stand at around 2.5% in the local market, having been as high as 10% during 2017.