Merchiston Street is named city's priciest

A leafy Merchiston street just half a mile away from the former home of Harry Potter author JK Rowling has been named the most expensive road in Edinburgh, pushing the New Town's Northumberland Street off the top spot.

Ettrick Road, the city's most expensive street.

Ettrick Road – a mix of late Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian villas and Victorian tenements and has an average selling price of £1.89 million – is also the second priciest address in Scotland, according to an annual report from Bank of Scotland.

However, experts from the Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre (ESPC) said that two sales of detached houses worth more than £2m earlier this year had pushed the average price higher on Ettrick Road.

Edinburgh is home to half of the 20 most expensive places to live north of the Border, the analysis found, with Heriot Row and Ann Street also ranking in the top ten.

At £1.39m, last year’s priciest street, Northumberland Street, is more than £500,000 less than its Merchiston rival.

However, the Capital, which last year boasted the most expensive Scottish street, lost out to St Andrews, where homes on The Scores, overlooking the Fife town’s West Sands beach, sold for an average £2.18m over the past year.

Aberdeen boasted five of the top 20 streets, while Glasgow had three. Balmoral Court in Auchterarder is the only other top 20 location outside the main Scottish cities.

Graham Blair, mortgage director at Bank of Scotland, said: “While Edinburgh normally has the ‘X factor’ when it comes to the nation’s most desirable addresses, this year’s surprise is The Scores in St Andrews taking the top spot as Scotland’s most expensive street. With Edinburgh being Scotland’s financial and political hub, it’s little surprise that it still dominates the most expensive streets table. Aberdeen retains a strong presence and the number of expensive streets has almost doubled compared to last year.”

He added: ”While the Capital and the Granite city dominate this survey, it is interesting to note that in all 20 most expensive streets the average house price is at least £1m, suggesting a rise in the number of the prime locations in Scotland.”

Other Edinburgh addresses to make the top 20 included Cumin Place in Sciennes, Abercromby Place in the New Town and Nile Grove in Morningside.

Caroline Young, spokeswoman for the ESPC, said: “As the financial and political hub of Scotland, it is no surprise that Edinburgh is consistently one of the more expensive places to live in Scotland.

“The detached villas of Merchiston and Morningside, where Ettrick Road is located, offer some of the most expensive properties in the city, but the Georgian flats of the New Town, and in particular Heriot Row, continue to be some of the most desirable of properties. They are located in the heart of the city, offer a wealth of period features and form part of a World Heritage site.”