Median price at August 2006: £182,816
General increase since September 2005: 1%
Projected increase to September 2007: 1%-5%
But while other rural locations, undone by the area’s unbeatable package of commutability, facilities, climate and quality of life, continue to play catch-up, East Lothian spent 2005 in hiatus, with steady capital growth of 1% to 5% in most sectors.
It may be the same again next year, believes Evelyn McVie, director at McVies.
Advertisement
“Traditional stone-built houses still have the biggest mark-up,” she says. “but the best new-build developments are flourishing, along with steadings, rural property and homes with sea views and access to golf courses. We are looking at another year of steady, if unspectacular, growth.”
A gentle rural pace of life and low density of development are key to East Lothian’s appeal, along with good schools, efficient local services, an attractive coastline and, of course, golf.
As such, the breadbasket of Scotland has become something of a mecca for growing professional Edinburgh families. And with a four-bed town house in the likes of Haddington available at about £295,000, it is still possible to make the case that, despite high prices, East Lothian still offers better pound-for-pound value than the capital, where prices are on average 50% higher, like for like.
At the very top end of the market, however, prestige, location, privacy and access to amenities are far bigger draws than perceived value for money. Indeed, North Berwick now has an average house price of £251,509.
It will therefore be no surprise if, two years after the sales of No 2 Cromwell Road in North Berwick for £1.2m and Pressmennan Lake House in Dunbar for £1.25m, a £2m price tag becomes the norm in 2007 for the best East Lothian country houses.
Advertisement
However, according to John Coleman, an East Lothian resident and Knight Frank agent, there is one problem in his back yard. “There’s no shortage of buyers prepared to pay what ever is asked of them, but there is a complete lack of supply, with very little of the best stuff coming onto the market,” he says.
New 1-bed apartment (Haddington) September 2005: £85,000 September 2006: £100,000 September 2007: £103,000 Second-hand 1-bed apartment September 2005: £90,000 September 2006: £95,000 September 2007: £98,000 New 2-bed apartment September 2005: £145,000 September 2006: £150,000 September 2007: £155,000 Second-hand 2-bed apartment (Dunbar) September 2005: £150,000 September 2006: £160,000 September 2007: £165,000 Ex-council 3-bed September 2005: £145,000 September 2006: £148,000 September 2007: £152,000 Second-hand 3-bed semi (North Berwick) September 2005: £200,000 September 2006: £220,000 September 2007: £225,000 New 5-bed detached September 2005: £400,000 September 2006: £485,000 September 2007: £500,000 Second-hand 5-bed detached September 2005: £450,000 September 2006: £510,000 September 2007: £530,000 2-bed cottage September 2005: £250,000 September 2006: £260,000 September 2007: £270,000 4-bed town house September 2005: £250,000 September 2006: £295,000 September 2007: £310,000 (Sources: Lindsays WS, McVies)
Musselburgh New 2-bed apartment September 2005: £155,000 September 2006: £165,000 September 2007: £170,000 Second-hand 2-bed apartment September 2005: £140,000 September 2006: £145,000 September 2007: £150,000 Second-hand 3-bed semi September 2005: £170,000 September 2006: £185,000 September 2007: £195,000 (Source: J&E Shepherd) Farmhouse with paddock September 2005: £850,000 September 2006: £900,000 September 2007: £1.25m Manse September 2005: £800,000 September 2006: £825,000 September 2007: £900,000 Country house with land September 2005: £1.7m September 2006: £1.75m September 2007: £2m (Sources: Knight Frank, Savills)
Fife
Advertisement
Median price at August 2006: £119,612
General increase since Sept 2005: 5%-10%
Projected increase to Sept 2007: 5%-10%
All our current big themes are represented here. There is a widespread over-supply of “samey” newbuild homes throughout the kingdom, while the £250,000 stamp duty threshold has become a big issue for buyers, according to Richard Blanski from DM Hall.
The market for flats continues unabated. There is still planty of life in buy-to-let in Fife, and, perhaps with stamp duty in mind, the stickiest sector of the market appears to be for those unremarkable family homes in the £250,000 to £300,000 market. Just the same as everywhere else, demand for attractive and private rural homes is positively exponential.
Advertisement
In terms of capital growth, all eyes have been on Cupar, Scotland’s latest stellar property hot spot. According to HBOS, average house prices in the pretty market town have risen by an incredible 143% since 1996, from £65,547 to £159,332. This compares to a 97% rise in house prices in Fife and 94% across Scotland as a whole over a similar period.
In the 12 months to March 2006, Cupar, according to HBOS, recorded the largest increase in house prices (36%) anywhere in Great Britain. That’s a figure significantly above the comparable annual Scottish national growth rate of 6.9%.
The statistics at the bottom end of the market are equally compelling — for all the wrong reasons. The extent to which East Fife’s coastal towns are now poor relations was brought into sharp relief in a report by the housing charity Shelter. Its author, Professor Danny Dorling, claims that 10 years ago the price of an average house in Kensington (the UK’s wealthiest district) would buy two equivalent houses in the seaside town of Leven (the UK’s poorest location, according to the report).
Today that money could buy you 24 houses in Leven, leading Dorling to conclude that regional variations in the wealth generated from home ownership “are taking us back towards the deep social divisions of Victorian society”.
Much has been made of annual growth returns of 36% in Lochgelly this year. However, despite being HBOS’s best performing Scottish town this year, Lochgelly, with an average house price of £93,731, is still one of only three towns in Scotland with its average below £100,000.
Advertisement
Greenock, Renfrewshire boasts a £97,304 average, ensuring that the ignominy of being Scotland’s cheapest town in 2007 falls to another Fife former mining town, Kelty, which has an average of £92,140.
Rather like Scotland as a whole, in 2006 Fife is a marketplace characterised by spectacular growth at both ends of its property spectrum with significantly less activity in the middle.
Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy New 1-bed apartment (Kirkcaldy) September 2005: £75,000 September 2006: £80,000 September 2007: £85,000 Second-hand 1-bed apartment (Kirkcaldy) September 2005: £55,000 September 2006: £60,000 September 2007: £65,000 New 2-bed apartment (Kirkcaldy) September 2005: £90,000 September 2006: £95,000 September 2007: £100,000 Second-hand 2-bed apartment (Kirkcaldy) September 2005: £86,000 September 2006: £91,000 September 2007: £95,000 Ex-council 3-bed (Glenrothes) September 2005: £85,000 September 2006: £90,000 September 2007: £95,000 Second-hand 3-bed semi (Kirkcaldy) September 2005: £120,000 September 2006: £125,000 September 2007: £135,000 Second-hand 4-bed semi (outside Glenrothes) September 2005: £140,000 September 2006: £145,000 September 2007: £150.000 Second-hand 5-bed detached (Balbirnie) September 2005: £255,000 September 2006: £255,000 September 2007: £260,000 2-bed cottage (Kirkcaldy) September 2005: £125,000 September 2006: £130,000 September 2007: £137,000 4-bed town house (Kirkcaldy) September 2005: £200,000 September 2006: £210,000 September 2007: £220,000 (Sources: Your Move, Regents Estates)
Fife West (Dunfermline area) New 1-bed apartment September 2005: £85,000 September 2006: £87,000 September 2007: £92,000 Second-hand 1-bed apartment September 2005: £65,000 September 2006: £72,000 September 2007: £80,000 New 2-bed apartment September 2005: £110,000 September 2006: £115,000 September 2007: £120,000 Second-hand 2-bed apartment September 2005: £82,000 September 2006: £84,000 September 2007: £90,000 Ex-council 3-bed September 2005: £85,000 September 2006: £85,000 September 2007: £90,000 Second-hand 3-bed semi September 2005: £120,000 September 2006: £125,000 September 2007: £140,000 Second-hand 4-bed semi September 2005: £125,000 September 2006: £135,000 September 2007: £145,000 Traditional second-hand 5-bed detached (established area) September 2005: £250,000 September 2006: £250,000 September 2007: £250,000 2-bed cottage (stone-built split villa) September 2005: £120,000 September 2006: £125,000 September 2007: £130,000 Traditional 4-bed town house September 2005: £210,000 September 2006: £225,000 September 2007: £240,000 (Sources: Hunters PSM, DM Hall)
St Andrews and East Neuk New 1-bed apartment (St Andrews) September 2005: £165,000 September 2006: £170,000 September 2007: £175,000 Second-hand 1-bed apartment
(St Andrews) September 2005: £125,000 September 2006: £130,000 September 2007: £135,000 New 2-bed apartment (St Andrews) September 2005: £200,000 September 2006: £225,000 September 2007: £235,000 Second-hand 2-bed apartment
(St Andrews) September 2005: £175,000 September 2006: £185,000 September 2007: £200,000 Fisherman's Cottage with sea view
(Pittenweem) September 2005: £230,000 September 2006: £245,000 September 2007: £260,000 Second-hand 3-bed semi (St Andrews) September 2005: £180,000 September 2006: £200,000 September 2007: £205,000 Second-hand 4-bed semi (St Andrews) September 2005: £200,000 September 2006: £230,000 September 2007: £245,000 Second-hand 2-up 2-down
(Anstruther) September 2005: £115,000 September 2006: £125,000 September 2007: £135,000 2-bed cottage (near Cupar) September 2005: £140,000 September 2006: £150,000 September 2007: £165,000 4-bed town house (St Andrews) September 2005: £350,000 September 2006: £400,000 September 2007: £415,000 5-bedroom manse September 2005: £500,000 September 2006: £600,000 September 2007: £650,000 Traditional country house in 10 acres September 2005: £950,000 September 2006: £1,000,000 September 2007: £1,200,000 Steading conversion September 2005: £375,000 September 2006: £400,000 September 2007: £475,000 (Sources: Drummond Cook & Mackintosh, Savills, Knight Frank, Bradburne and Co)