Property Round-up of 2021
2021 started with a lock down. Thankfully, not an enforced shut down of the property market as we experienced in 2019. Nevertheless, we were facing yet more uncertainty at the beginning of the year as to how our local housing market would perform. In the circumstances, few of us could have predicted how the year ahead would play out – generally, improved activity across the board, it could even be said that at times this escalated to frantic activity across some sectors of the market.
The report issued by ASPC for the last quarter of 2020 showed unusually good activity in our local property market with an increase in sales of 24.3% compared to the first quarter of 2020. This, coupled with a price change of 5.4% seems to have set the market up well for the coming year. Indeed, the ASPC recorded the highest ever traffic on its website in March 2021.
The Spring market continued on a positive note, showing increased confidence in our local market and increased activity after the restrictions of the lockdown were lifted. Rural areas were particularly busy, the general consensus being that property owners were keen to secure their own “green space” from which to escape the confines of lockdown, or were on the look out for that much sought after office space as working from home became the norm.
The second quarter is usually the most active time of year, and this year, in spite of its uncertain start, was no exception, with 1724 sales being recorded – an increase of 34.5% compared with the first quarter of the year. The fact that these sales were spread across all sectors of the housing market gave us a reassuring indication that our property market was well on the road to recovery.
The report issued by ASPC last month continued to show steady improvement with an increase on the number of sales by 0.8% compared to the previous quarter. Normally, at this time of year the figures would show a downward trend due to seasonal factors, but with more and more properties achieving their asking price, this must bode well for the future.
Although we are still facing uncertainty, there have been recent reports in our local press that Aberdeen will have the fastest growing Scottish economy by the end of 2022. With a year of solid continued improvement in our local property market behind us now, we can look forward to the coming year in the hope that this resilience and optimism will carry forward and persist over the coming 12 months.
