Big news in the Argyll & Bute property market!

We have waited nearly 12 years for this, but Registers of Scotland data shows we have now hit a new record high for quarterly house prices. In other words, house prices are now the highest they have EVER been in this area.

The Argyll & Bute property market has been quite unique in that the previous ‘high’ occurred way back in 2007. In the 11+ years since, the property market in this area has been stable but generally flat, i.e. minor ups and downs but no real overall change. This is in stark contrast in other parts of the UK where average prices have reached in excess of 40% higher than their pre-crash peak.

This new high in Argyll & Bute is as a result of 7 consecutive quarters of house price growth – that’s almost two years’ worth!
This is particularly remarkable for two reasons:
Firstly, there is normally a seasonality with house prices where, irrespective of overall market trends and conditions, it is rare that EVERY quarter in a year will be an increase on the previous one (prices often drop from Q2 to Q3 for example).

Secondly, this consistent increase has come against the backdrop of Brexit and all of the media talk of ‘a crisis’. We have certainly not seen Brexit having a major effect on the Oban property market. As I noted in a previous blog, in general, national events seem to have a very limited effect on the Argyll property market, akin to dropping a stone in a pool of water where the ripples become less pronounced the further out you go. This perhaps explains why we appear to be somewhat isolated from Brexit turmoil.
Of course, only time will tell if there will be any affect when Brexit happens, but at the time of writing, we still don’t know what the Brexit ‘deal’ will be, much less the resulting effects of this.

Incidentally, back in August 2016 I suggested in a blog that it would probably be a good time to buy property in this area, and anyone who bought then should have had their property value increase by around 11% since!