An Edinburgh mansion has been snapped up for £4million – knocking Aberdeen off the top spot for the priciest property sold in Scotland in the last year.
Hillwood House, on the slopes of Corstorphine Hill, cost almost £1million more than the property at Aberdeen’s Rubislaw Den South, which was the most expensive mansion sold last year.
The selling price of the Edinburgh property is believed to have set the record for the most expensive residential home sale in Scotland since the 2008 crash.
With nine bedrooms, a tennis court, cinema room, gym and links to one of Scotland’s most famous exports, the property was sold just a month after going on the market.
Once home to the MacKinnon family of Drambuie fame, the house was sold by upmarket estate agents Strutt & Parker for “just shy of £4million” to an undisclosed buyer this week.
The sale will raise hopes that confidence is returning to a market that was shattered by the economic crisis of seven years ago.
Last year 146 properties reached seven figures – up from 137 in 2013 while estate agents Savills predicted further growth in the sector.
Savills also sold the property at Rubislaw Den South for £3,070,000 to Fraserburgh skipper Peter Tait.
At the time, Scottish property expert Faisal Choudhry said he was unsurprised at the price the six-bedroom, B-listed granite Edwardian property had gone for.
He said it showed there was confidence in the market, but added it was unlikely that houses would fetch similar sums in the future because of the increase in stamp duty which comes into force in April.
Hillwood House, built in 1872, has been expertly restored retaining period features and was being sold with seven-acre of grounds and a tennis court.
Blair Stewart, a partner at Strutt and Parker, whose office sold Hillwood House, declined to comment on the sale.
In 2007, Seton Castle near Longniddry, East Lothian, was named Scotland’s most expensive home after being sold for £5million.