THE days when members of the Edinburgh chattering classes bored each other with tales of how much their properties were worth have been replaced with grim conversations about soaring mortgages and "for sale" signs which won't come down.
The city's property market may not be in the same tail-spin as in the rest of the UK, but the figures from the Edinburgh Solicitors' Property Centre released today reveal a dip in the fortunes of home-owners.
A pattern is difficult to discern and
the drop of around 30 per cent recorded for family houses in Balerno seems difficult to understand alongside an eight per cent rise in a place like Liberton. The only logical explanation for the widely differing results is that the number of transactions have fallen to the extent that a few unusual sales have skewed the figures in a way that was difficult when volumes were higher.
But that in itself more than illustrates the scale of change, from a position where properties flew off the market before they were advertised, people queued up to cash in on the boom by selling up and also queued up at open viewing. Indeed such was the stampede at peak times that open viewing almost became a thing of the past.
Now senior Edinburgh domestic property figures are privately expressing concerns about the state of the housing market where once it seemed that the good times would go on for ever. The good news from the ESPC's figures is that a significant number of districts are still seeing increases, but if anyone who moved in the last couple of years expects to sell up and enjoy the six-figure increases in value which were recorded before then, they should think again. At the top of the market, tales of people paying a million more than the nearest offer to secure a des res are a distant memory.
At the heart of the problem lies the virtual collapse of the domestic banking system in which the big institutions who are no longer lending to each other are therefore not lending to customers. Until such times as the banks return to normal behaviour there is little chance of a return to times of plenty.
But even then, we are unlikely to see the market scale the dizzying heights of three years ago and that may be no bad thing. The pause could give lower earners time to catch up and put the property ladder back within reach. And the end of ludicrous mortgages on the basis that the debt would be paid off by a quick sale should also mean that sense and stability will eventually be the stamp of the market in the next few years.
In its favour, Edinburgh remains a fantastic place in which to live and as yet there is no sign that the projected population increase is dipping. In that case demand will continue to outstrip supply and the next boom will not be far away
The full article contains 511 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
