02 Feb 2018
Aberdeen Housing Market Report: Now is the time to buy
Figures from the Fourth Quarter 2017 Housing Market Report suggest that 2018 could be a great time to consider purchasing property in and around Aberdeen.
Changes in housing prices
The 2017 Fourth Quarter Aberdeen Housing Market Report published statistics showing a decrease in housing prices since the Q3 2017 report. According to the report, the quarterly house price change in Aberdeen City and Suburbs is -4.4% and the annual price change from 2016 to 2017 is -6%. The report states that the annual house price change over five years in Aberdeen City and the surrounding suburbs is 0.2%.
The report found that 2017 Q4 saw the price of an average flat in Aberdeen drop to £136,825 from the £143,796 in Q3. These price drops are similar regardless of the house type and location, with a detached home in Ellon dropping from £241,378 to £230,935 and a semi detached in Inverurie going from £188,353 to £198,252.
Volume of sales
In the fourth quarter of 2017, the volume of sales was 1,145, a decrease of 14.5% from the previous quarter and a 2.1% decrease compared with the volume of sales a year ago in 2016 Q4. The sales volume of flats decreased by 12.9%, the sales volume of semi-detached houses decreased by 22%, and the sales volume of detached houses decreased by 5.4%.
Looking forward
The first three quarters of 2017 created some optimism that the bottom of the market had been reached in 2016 and while things were certainly not improving quickly, there had been a slight increase in both volume of sales and total value of sales during the year.
The fourth quarter of any year is traditionally the worst, and the Q4 2017 figures show that despite earlier improvement in 2017, the local market is still at a comparatively low level of activity.
However, overall 2017 saw increased activity compared to 2016. The figures for total number of sales in 2017 was higher, an increase of 6% compared to 2016. In addition the average value of property sold during 2017 increased by 1%.
Money saving experts Moneytips said the housing market has been effected by a short supply of homes, especially in the starter home market, "At the beginning of the fourth quarter, over half of available homes were in the top third of home values. Supply should continue to increase and ease price pressures by the end of the year, but the total supply will still fall short of overall demand."
This means sellers will need to be realistic with asking prices for their homes, however they will also be able to purchase at more realistic prices too. This should come as positive news for property investors, as it is likely they will be able to charge higher rent prices and pay less when purchasing a property.
The Housing Market Report also stated that in the last few months there has been some encouraging reports of increased investment by operators in the North Sea and oil prices have risen. These signs suggest that the worst may be behind us and the Aberdeen housing market may grow into something slightly more significant in 2018.
Chris Comfort, property partner, Aberdein Considine said: "There are certainly signs that the market in Aberdeen is picking up and there has been an increase in properties sold compared to last year which hopefully augurs well for the rest of the year. This is happening in conjunction with the stabilisation of the oil and gas industry, which we saw the start of in early November and this has led to an increase in first time buyers. The improvement in the oil and gas sector also had a positive affect on the rental market which is normally where we see the first changes."
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