Scottish estate agents see one of the biggest increases in sales across the UK

Despite many estate agent businesses across the UK experiencing a drop in sales transactions, due mainly to a chronic housing shortage, agents in Scotland are bucking the trend.

Leading property data and estate agent prospecting platform Homesearch analysed its property data to find out which agents in Scotland, by postcode area, have experienced the best or toughest market conditions.

It found that estate agents in Scotland have seen a 26 per cent rise in year-on-year sales volumes on average, compared to just 13 per cent in Harrogate - the highest area increase in sales across England and Wales. The Outer Hebrides (HS postcode) is the best-selling area for agents in Scotland and has experienced a 62 per cent increase in sales transactions for the same period.

A key part of the study was to identify which postcodes are the most and least lucrative to estate agents. Edinburgh ranked 1st nationally, with over £4.2bn of property sales generated by agents in the city in the last 12 months.

The research found that Kirkcaldy estate agents have seen a 10.6 per cent (£17,475) increase in average house prices year-on-year – the highest in Scotland. Conversely, Edinburgh saw the biggest fall (4.4 per cent / £12,855) in average house prices year-on-year, although 81 per cent of areas across Scotland have seen a positive uplift in sale prices.

Speed of sale is also key to estate agent businesses in Scotland, with properties taking 56 days on average to sell subject to contract from the date they went on the market.

Sam Hunter, co-founder and chief operating officer at Homesearch, commented: “It’s very clear from our data that the housing market in Scotland is buoyant compared to other areas of the UK where 72 per cent have seen a decrease in sales transactions.

“At a time when house prices have risen significantly in the last 12 months, the challenge facing estate agent businesses - that aren’t experiencing rapid growth - is mainly a chronic shortage of sellable housing stock, with 29 buyers on average competing for every one property on the market.

“Those agents will clearly have to work harder than ever to stimulate the market and win new instructions if they are to drive higher sales transactions.”