Scotland’s property market outperforms London

According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) Scotland’s property market is outperforming the London market.

In a survey of its members, the Institution found that 19% reported a fall in property prices in Scotland over the past three months, compared with 54% recording a fall in London prices.

Chartered surveyors in Scotland have also been experiencing a higher demand for commercial property than in London, with the inevitable rise in rents.

The construction survey shows that in Scotland workloads for Chartered Surveyors have continued to grow strongly, whereas in London the amount of work has declined for four successive quarters.

Graeme Hartley, Director of RICS Scotland says: “Scotland has been bucking the UK trend of falling house prices in much of 2007 and now it’s outperforming London in construction and commercial property too. While the London economy has been in pretty good shape until recently, it was still lagging the performance of Scotland in 2007.”

Mr Hartley believes that investors are retaining their confidence in Scotland despite the uncertainty surrounding the global economy.

Employment in the region has increased by 2.2% over the past year, a reassuring statistic in the face of a global credit squeeze.

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