House prices fall in Scotland for the third month in succession
2/21/2012
admin
The average price of a house in Scotland fell by -0.2% in December, following a similar reduction in prices in November according to the latest LSL Property Services/Acadametrics Scotland House Price Index.
This is the third month in succession that prices have fallen and the seventh month in 2011 in which price movements have been negative.
Gordon Fowlis, Regional Managing Director, Your Move, comments: “Prices fell marginally in December, but no further than you’d expect in the normal seasonal downturn. Although, given the wider economic backdrop, the market has done well not to contract a more serious bout of contagion.
“Credit should go to mortgage lenders who have done their best to sustain lending. They have operated astutely and picked their battles carefully, pushing out a raft of higher loan-to-value mortgages last summer, which has increased the trickle of first time buyers to a more steady flow. Although first time buyer numbers are still depressed by historic standards, this has prevented prices from falling more sharply, and has had a knock on effect of galvanizing the higher echelons of the Scottish market.
Source: PropertyTalkLive.co.uk