Scottish house prices set to rise further in the first quarter of 2016

According to the latest survey by RICS, Scottish house prices are expected to increase in early 2016 as supply continues to fail to meet demand.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has said that the RICS UK Residential Market Survey, December 2015, has shown rising demand and a slight increase in properties coming onto the market led to an uplift in newly agreed sales in December (a net balance of 24%).

Surveyors expect this trend to continue in the near-term at least.

A net balance of 35% of Scottish respondents forecast a rise in transactions in the January-to-March period, with 24% of surveyors also expecting average prices to increase in this quarter.

Sarah Speirs, Director RICS in Scotland, said: “Despite a growth in new instructions, the chronic shortage of housing supply in Scotland continues to result in rising house prices and rents across the country. To remedy the shortage, Scottish Government policy is, and for a considerable amount of time has been, aimed at supporting demand and, more crucially, the new build market and home ownership.

RICS launched its manifesto yesterday, presenting Shaping Scotland’s Housing Future, developed by RICS practitioners, aiming to inform political parties of the role property plays in driving Scotland’s economic growth ahead of the parliamentary elections in May.

The report recommends the creation of a Housing Land Agency, which would work with local authorities and developers identifying land, primarily in areas of market failure, and installing any necessary infrastructure for sites.

Other requests include improvements to existing residential tenements across Scotland via the Planned Maintenance Scheme, where owners of properties in tenements could take part in regular surveys and have in place a programme of maintenance management. The Help to Maintain Scheme was proposed, which would provide funding to home owners to invest in their property to improve the fabric of its structure or energy efficiency.

In order for the future government to increase housing supply, the report also calls for the introduction of Construction and Planning Skills Programmes in response to severe skills shortages within the sector.

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