THE number of million-pound properties sold in Scotland rose by 138 per cent last year, the fastest growth rate in the UK.
During 2007, 343 million-pound homes were sold, compared with 144 the previous year, and a seven-fold increase on the 47 sold four years ago.
Suren Thiru, a research analyst for the Bank of Scotland, which published the figures, said they reflec
ted a greater supply of high-end property rather than any urgency to sell.
"It's a case of people getting richer and there being more properties over the £1 million mark," he said.
"However, we don't anticipate seeing growth over the coming year because of the overall slowing of the economy.
"People are talking about the credit crunch, but the sort of people who buy these types of properties don't normally have mortgages."
Many of the million-pound properties sold were in Edinburgh, which represented 43 per cent of total sales, with 148 properties.
However, the capital's dominance in this elevated area of the market has diminished over the past year. In 2006, 51 per cent of all million-pound properties were sold there.
But Mr Thiru said the drop indicated a strengthening in Scotland as a whole.
"We are still seeing a big increase in Edinburgh, but the share of million-pound properties has become more broadly spread across places such as Perth and Kinross and Glasgow, places that five years ago had very low numbers, but now have properties numbering in their 20s," he added.
Peter Lyle, of Edinburgh estate agents Savills, said: "High-end properties are still achieving the prices, but they are taking longer to sell. Where they would go within two or three weeks, they can now take four or more. But we're still getting viewers.
"People who own this sort of house will not leave their house on the market if they think it won't sell quickly, so supply tends to dry up.
"The past year has been remarkable. The fact that there were a high number of million-pound houses was nothing remarkable. It was the ones going up to £5 million that was remarkable."
Mr Lyle said that as the money being used to invest in these properties tended to come from personal wealth rather than loans, the market was less volatile.
Mathew Munro, of Knight Frank estate agents, said he was not surprised by the figures. "The Edinburgh and Scottish markets are still significantly undervalued for what they offer, especially compared with the south of England," he said.
"The media would have us believe we are having a quiet time, but recently we've sold a property in Edinburgh for just under £3 million, another for £2.5 million and several for between £1 million and £1.5 million."
However, while the 138 per cent rise far outstrips the 3 per cent rise in total property sales in Britain over the year, million-pound plus properties accounted for just 0.2 per cent of all Scottish property sales.
The full article contains 510 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
