Property Market Lifted By Rise In September House Sales

House sales picked up across Scotland last month, supported by a modest improvement in the number of properties coming on to the market, according to a report.

Agreed sales rose throughout Scotland in September, with 32% more chartered surveyors seeing an increase, the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) UK residential market survey revealed.

In fact, Scotland joined the north of England and East Anglia in posting the sharpest rises in activity in the UK last month as the British market saw sales growth hit a 16-month high.

RICS said the stronger sales trend was broadly reflective of an upturn in demand which has been visible in the Scottish market for much of the year.

The number of new buyer inquiries rose in September, with 23% more chartered surveyors reporting a rise in demand last month.

In addition to activity picking up, September also saw a net balance of 16% more respondents in Scotland reporting an increase in properties coming on to the market, RICS reported.

But supply is still falling behind demand and Scottish house prices continued to rise.

Sarah Speirs, the director of RICS in Scotland, said: Activity is now picking up which is encouraging and we are seeing slight improvements in stock coming on to the market, although this is still falling short of demand.

Against this backdrop, we expect prices to move higher over the coming months.''

Responding to the survey, Craig Henderson, of Graham + Sibbald in Glasgow and West Scotland, said: The rise in activity since the schools returned aftersummer holidays is encouraging, with demand strong in many of the usual popular locations. This is likely to continue until the usual festive slowdown.''

Ronald Smith, of J&E Shepherd in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, told the survey: Sales levels are buoyant but with low new stock levels. This is resulting in some relatively high sales prices being agreed.''

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