New research shows the areas in Tayside where homes sold at the biggest discount to their home report valuations last year.
The analysis, by TSPC and based on sales through its website last year, classify house sales into 15 areas.
Six areas saw average sales higher than the home report price and nine saw average sales below the valuation.
Homes in Brechin, Edzell, Stracathro and Trinity sold for an average of 11.4% below their home report values.
Kirremuir was the second worst performing area, with a typical sale 3.7% under value.
Meanwhile, properties in the Carse of Gowrie, Inchture, Errol, Longforgan and St Madoes recorded an average 3.3% sale price above valuation.
The wide difference in performance of the various areas of Tayside and north Fife can be seen in the graph below.
Angela Wallace, centre and operations manager at TSPC, said flooding in Brechin during Storm Babet in October 2023 impacted prices.
She also noted that below value sales of buy-to-let properties also contributed to the results.
She said: “There have been a few properties which have seen a significant decrease in offer price from home report value.
“This is not uncommon in buy-to-let properties given the new additional dwelling supplement (ADS) and the lack of landlord interest in lower-value homes.
“Let’s remember that Brechin did encounter flooding, which, alongside rising insurance costs, makes this area less of an attractive proposition for owner-occupiers and landlords alike.”
Average house prices in Tayside
The Brechin area was also bottom of the chart of average selling prices achieved last year, with an average of £141,252.
Top of this chart was Auchterhouse, Birkhil, Muirhead, Piperdam and Liff which had an average sale price almost £80,000 more than any other area.
The average price from 31 sales last year was £323,468.
Ms Wallace said this average price was brought up considerably by a small number of high sales.
She added: “The availability of stable long-term mortgage solutions is increasing confidence.
“We must also consider the influx of new homes entering the market, which tends to drive up average property values.
“However, it’s important to note that incentives like part-exchange allow builders to accept offers below the average on properties, enabling them to facilitate quicker transactions.”
Are house prices up or down on previous year?
TSPC also ran an analysis on the average sale price in each of the areas in 2024 compared to 2023. This fluctuates on the quality of homes from each area sold within the year.
The Auchterhouse, Blairgowrie and Strathmartine areas all showed large increases, while Kirriemuir, the Brechin area and Wellbank saw year-on-year average sale price declines.
Ms Wallace said there were plenty of green shoots in the market as it enters a new year.
She said: “Confidence is most certainly back, particularly at the higher end.
“We had seen a slower pace for sales for higher-end properties. With the interest rates increasing over 2023/24, there was resistance from buyers towards the top end of the market.
“With the stabilisation of interest rates and some good long-term fixed rates coming in, buyer confidence is back.”
This sentiment was echoed by Peter Ryder, managing director of Thorntons Property Services.
He said: “The property market demonstrated robust performance in 2024. I would predict this positive trend will continue into 2025.
“The year has already had a positive start, setting the stage for continued growth.”
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