Aberdeen pulled ahead as the commercial property hotspot in Scotland in the most recent quarter, new figures have shown.
The value of sales of property in Aberdeen rose by £34million to £165million in the three months to the end of June, outpacing Edinburgh and Glasgow which were hit by fears over the outcome of the independence referendum, researchers claimed.
The bulk of sales in the Granite City were £5million-plus, with seven transactions in this range, according to figures reported by the Registers of Scotland (RoS).
This was more than any other Scottish city as Aberdeen’s performance replaced recent strong performances by Edinburgh in the second half and first quarter of 2013-14. In the second quarter 2014 Glasgow slipped significantly to £58million of sales from its first quarter figures of £207million.
A spokesman for the British Property Federation (BPF) said: “This resilience of Aberdeen as a centre for investment is even more impressive given the reported reluctance of some investors to commit to Scottish commercial property ahead of the referendum vote.”
The total value of Scottish commercial property sales reported fell sharply to £592million from its first quarter total of £841million. This figure remains above the average quarterly reports of around £400million recorded in the commercial property slump between 2010 and 2013, but it is a long way short of the peak 2006-07 quarterly figures which ran at over £1billion per quarter, according to analysis of the figures by the BPF.
Despite the fall in the value of sales of property in Edinburgh and Glasgow there was an increase in the number of transactions in Scotland.
The the volume of sales increased to 894 in the quarter, up from the 776 reported in the first quarter.
There was a drop in the number of highest value transactions from 26in Q1 to 21 in Q2.
In the central belt both Edinburgh (up to 110 from 100) and Glasgow (up to 115 from 98) saw increases in the volume of transactions while Aberdeen was consistent at 42 (Q1) to 41 (Q2).
A spokesman for BPF said that while Aberdeen remained robust, fears over the outcome of the refendum had dampened comercial property trading.
He said: “Inevitably the fall in the value of commercial property sales between April and June leads to questions about the impact of the independence referendum on the commercial property market.
“It appears that since April there has been a slowdown in the number of higher value transactions, which would support the view of most members that in general investors have been increasingly cautious about committing to commercial property investments in Scotland before the outcome of the 18 September vote.”
But he added the group expected a bounce-back following the vote.
“In line with the continued general economic improvement we may see a bounce back in the value of sales post-referendum which would add to the traditional surge in activity in autumn as we move towards 2015 and potentially more UK-wide political uncertainty as the UK General Election moves closer,” he said.
