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The Scotsman's View
Archie Leslie Melville in Bell Ingram's Perth
office was recently instructed to market a small
tidal island called Rubh a Chruidh off the
northern tip of Kerrera, just across Oban Bay.
It has been on the market since mid May as we
write and interest has been strong with the
likelihood of stiff competition at a closing
date. The island has its own jetty and pontoon
for permanent access by boat with further
mooring offshore. It is a short distance (10
minutes) by boat to reach the North Pier in Oban
and this, together with the Seaplane from Oban
Marina, which takes 24 minutes to reach Glasgow,
makes it an unusually accessible island whilst
retaining a high degree of privacy. The four
bedroom bungalow and a useful bothy are in good
shape and the views are exceptional – weather
permitting!
Each day brings talk of economic meltdown and
property woes. These reports are aimed mainly at
the south east and so far the general opinion
has been that Scotland will buck the trend. It
is our experience that good quality property
which ticks most boxes for buyers if given a
sensible price tag will always sell well. It is
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market for these properties and therefore demand
is likely to exceed supply whatever the
circumstances of the economy. Unusual and rare
properties like Rubh a Chruidh
Island have that special factor which will
always attract a good queue of buyers, similarly
houses with privacy, land and views have the
same effect.
It is difficult to predict how the Scottish
market might change through 2008 but most
commentators see a stagnation if not a small
increase in values for the year. Negative equity
will, in the main, be confined to the south and
it is fair to say that lenders have not been so
cavalier in their lending practices since the
mid nineties with average loan to values being
considerably lower.
What we have seen over the past few months is no
shortage of sellers – perhaps diving in whilst
the market still looks relatively strong and
before the costly sellers pack becomes mandatory
later this year – but there has been a
noticeable decrease in buyers and viewings for
mainstream property, the exception being
outstanding properties such as Gruinards Estate
in Sutherland that was sold off market by the
Inverness and Bonar Bridge offices earlier this
year. |
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