House prices across city still slumping to the floor

house prices in the Capital have continued to slide, new figures have shown.

The latest quarterly update from the Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre showed the average house price in the Capital during the three months to August was £222,525 – a 3.6 per cent drop on the same period last year.

However, the average remains higher than it was in 2009, with the current price drop reflecting a gradual dwindling of a shortlived peak in prices last year.

A breakdown of figures for different locations and property types shows that the average price of a three-bedroom semi-detached house in the suburbs slumped by 15 per cent over the past year. However, this came after a 17 per cent annual rise at the same time last year, bringing prices back in line with those of 2009.

Business analyst for ESPC David Marshall said the higher average price for three-bed semis had been largely down to an increased number of high-value properties, rather than an increase in like-for-like values.

He said: “Last year’s figure was skewed towards the upper end so it’s back down where it should be.

“There’s obviously a variance around every average, and last year there happened to be quite a few of those properties in what would be considered the more fashionable areas. It spiked for about three months in the middle of last year and then started to come down again.”

Properties in the city centre saw their average price drop by 7.1 per cent year on year to £236,958.

Two-bed flats in Marchmont/Bruntsfield were down by 5.6 per cent to £250,385. In Leith Walk/Easter Road, the average for a one-bed flat was up by 1 per cent to £114,200.

Both West Lothian and Midlothian saw rises in the average price of a home. In West Lothian, a 7.5 per cent annual rise took the average to £173,953, and in Midlothian, prices went up 5.8 per cent to £174,459.

However, Mr Marshall said he thought the rises would be shortlived.

He said: “The number of homes selling is around half of what you would have seen at the peak of the market. Lower sales volumes mean that you can see some volatility in the regional figures leading to short-term shifts in price that do not reflect longer-term trends.

“This is what we’re seeing in Midlothian and West Lothian just now and in both instances I’d expect we’ll soon see prices starting to head back towards levels seen during the first half of 2009.”

East Lothian’s average was down by 5.3 per cent to £223,347.

Mr Marshall added: “I think we’ll continue to see the annual variance continuing.”

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