Harper Macleod property team sees late year rise in sale of £1m homes

Harper Macleod has highlighted a surge in the number of million pound-plus house sales it advised on in Scotland in the second half of 2017, following reports that numbers had dropped significantly in the first half of the year.

The firm’s private client & residential property specialists acted in the sale or purchase of eight homes for more than £1 million between July and December 2017 – a 60 per cent increase on the same period in 2016.

A recent report into million pound house sales in Scotland showed that they had dropped by more than a third in the first half of the 2017, with 53 sold across the country in that period. This was the largest fall of anywhere in the UK, with observers predicting that the decline in high-value transactions would continue into the new year.

However, Harper Macleod’s figures showed clients bucking the trend that showed a 35 per cent decrease in Scotland at a time when the overall UK market recorded a drop of only one per cent over the same period.

David McIndoe, partner at head of residential property at Harper Macleod, said: “While the official figures for the second half of 2017 are still to come, our experience has been that demand for our services in relation to such properties rose significantly over the past six months.

“As well as the eight £1 million plus houses we advised on, we’re currently acting in another couple of transactions which we expect to conclude early in the New Year. This is perhaps the busiest we have ever been in terms of such properties and those 10 alone represent a significant proportion of the overall market. It remains to be seen if that is purely down to clients selecting the firm for its value and service or is part of an overall upward trend.”