The magic £1 million jackpot

Castle Grant, the former seat of the clan Grant chiefs of Strathspey, in Morayshire, is among these sales in recent years. At the end of 2014, missives were concluded on the property, which has 35 acres of land, its own loch, plus a cinema room, billiards room and library. A Russian buyer sealed the deal at £1 million — £100,000 less than its asking price.

In Dumfries and Galloway, properties are also keenly priced. However, notable £1 million houses in the region are often contemporary, rather than archaic, built from scratch and architect-designed to capitalise on the sea views and sandy beaches.

One such home is The Edge in Sandyhills, an award-winning residence with a walkway between its four bedrooms and an observatory, and The Pavilion, a similar property in Coldingham Bay, in the Scottish Borders, which has terraces spanning the length of the building, plus a large, open-plan dining room and kitchen.

Having reduced their asking prices from £1.24 million and £1.25 million respectively, they found new owners last year at the magic million-pound mark.

Research from the Registers of Scotland showed that for this year’s first quarter, average house prices were at their highest rates since 2003. That means that property prices are going up — and fast — so what costs £1 million at the moment might not for much longer.

Here’s what that sum will buy you in popular parts of Scotland right now.

Edinburgh City

According to research from the Bank of Scotland, half of Scotland’s ten most expensive streets are in the capital, spread between Stockbridge, the Grange and the New Town. Of these, townhouses command the highest asking prices, many with outside space (a rarity in Scotland’s inner cities) and an all-important parking space or a mews garage.

In Stockbridge, Edinburgh’s village within a city, £1 million will buy a pretty terraced house on Ann Street with four bedrooms and front and back gardens, all in close proximity to the boutiques and gastropubs the area is famed for.

On Northumberland Street in the New Town, Scotland’s priciest address, £1 million will buy you a home with three or four bedrooms, a terrace and relatively traditional interiors. For something more contemporary for the same price, expect to drop a bedroom and a parking space.

Move further out to Merchiston, on the city’s south side, which is popular with families looking to get their children into nearby independent schools, and imposing, semi-detached period homes will be available. Savills has a five-bedroom baronial property on Polwarth Terrace with a walled garden and five bedrooms for £1 million.

Haymarket is increasingly seen as a worthy companion to the ever-popular Stockbridge and New Town because if it influx of new businesses and revamped rail station. Within the region, 5 Walker Street is a home spread over three floors that has what Edinburgh buyers are looking for — a relatively modern spec and plenty of bedrooms.

Features include two private car-parking spaces, an enclosed patio, cellars and a grand dining kitchen. It also gives you change from your million, at a guide price of £995,000 (Strutt & Parker).

Glasgow and outskirts

Unlike Edinburgh, Glasgow’s core has a relatively small pool of residential properties to choose from. The bulk of the property market in Merchant City is comprised of one or two-bedroom flats, which, while popular with well-off students and serviced-apartment investors, rarely sell for a quarter of a million, let alone anything higher.

However, in Park, between the West End and the city, it’s a different story. Many of the grand, blond sandstone townhouses overlooking Kelvingrove Park have been snapped up by developers who, through estate agencies such as Corum, upgrade them and sell them on to well-off buyers.

Still, even in addresses such as Park Circus and Claremont Terrace, two of the district’s loveliest streets, properties must be super-luxurious to command a £1 million asking price.

A decade ago, the TV interior designer Anna Ryder Richardson bought and renovated an A listed Georgian townhouse in Park Gardens, which she put on the market in 2014. It featured an LED bath, five bedrooms and a private garden (which is rarer to find than in Edinburgh) plus two living rooms, one of which Ryder Richardson called a “Barbarella-type space capsule”. It commanded offers of about £950,000.

Arguably the most highly sought-after areas of Glasgow lie outside the city, in Bearsden, Thorntonhall and Bothwell. In Bearsden, £1 million will buy an imposing detached villa with plenty of original Victorian features, a grand driveway and garage. In Thorntonhall and Bothwell, contemporary homes carry the largest price tags, with features such as state-of-the-art security systems instead of traditional details.

Countrywide has a period, detached home for sale for offers of more than £995,000 in Thorntonhall. It has a 35ft kitchen with cathedral-style roof, four bedrooms (three en suite) and a conservatory, as well as a back garden complete with a pond.

Highlands

It’s an obvious conclusion that the further away from civilisation a property is, the more you can get for your money. However, sometimes it’s hard to visualise exactly how much more you can get.

Sutherland, a region of the northern Highlands, is known for its bleakly beautiful landscape, white-sand beaches and lochs, all of which appeal to tourists looking to explore Scotland’s most northerly region. Yet there’s plenty going on for residents, too. The area is home to Golspie Mill, a traditional company producing organic bread from archaic Scottish recipes, and the town of Dornoch, famous for its cathedral and championship golf course.

A four-bedroom home in Caithness can sell for about £90,000, so there has to be a pretty impressive catalogue of features to justify a £1 million asking price in the Highlands. Lemlair House, a ten-bedroom Victorian mansion in Dingwall, with views over the Cromarty Firth, is a prime example. It sold for £1.05 million in 2013.

In Embo, a village a few miles north of Dornoch, Strutt & Parker is marketing the former manor house of the Gordon family, otherwise known as the Earls of Sutherland.

Embo House has ten bedrooms, a drawing room, kitchen and dining room, and east and west wings that contain a library and games room respectively. Outside there are eight acres of land, a sun terrace, coastal views and a barbecue area, plus a treehouse, greenhouse and studio.

Although listed at a touch more than £1 million, it’s worth noting that the property has been on the market for almost two years.

It may be worth trying to negotiate a final price that chips off the final £100,000 to buy a Highland laird’s mansion more cheaply than a Chelsea flat.