News

There were 97,450 property transactions across the UK in September, HMRC has reported.
The figure was down by 4.8% from 102,360 transactions in August – tallying with the drop in September’s mortgage lending.
However, the figure is up 5% on the transactions reported by HMRC in September last year.
HMRC’s figures for transactions show them peaking in February of this year and then declining since, with a mild uplift in August. The year has been troubled with constant media threats of interest rate rises, something I have always argued simply isn’t going to happen in the near future, but home owners with mortgages have seen the disposable income they had when interest rates fell, be swallowed up with fuel and food dramatic increases. Both now seem to be falling back again, but it always takes time for the pain to go away and the perception of an interest rate rise kills of interest in taking on a larger debt. This coupled with the new stamp duty rises has given the Scottish market a double hit.
On the positive, inflation is down and with food and oil prices falling this is likely to stay down and may even fall further. So there is lots of good news for would be purchasers, we just need to get the message in front of them. WE are seeing a lot of continued interest in our properties, lots of website hits, and speaking to a lot of people, but there does seem to be a slight reticence to view.
Any news is replaced quickly, I believe we will see a bit of an upsurge between now and April, as the new stamp duty nears we will be better able to gage the potential impact.
My quadcopter is now out of “hospital” so as soon as we get a good day we will start our rounds to try and show of your property in an entirely new way. No one else is doing it in Scotland, our re construction is complete ready to take the movies, just need the wind to fade, then we will be making another impact.