House prices in Aberdeen have plummeted by 8.7% during the past year – more than anywhere else in the UK.
The downturn in oil and gas has seen the average cost of a property in the Granite City fall to £175,992.
The House Price Index revealed that average costs increased by 4.3% across Scotland between August 2015 and 2016.
In Aberdeenshire, they rose by 1.38% to £202,192, in Moray by 4.66% to £143,096, and, in the Highlands, by 0.67% to £155,559.
There was a mixture of fortunes in the islands – in Shetland, prices fell 7.56% to £149,490, whereas in the Western Isles, they rose by 9.74% to £100,804, and, in Orkney, they were up 10.2% to £129,982.
John Macrae, the chairman of the Aberdeen Solicitor Property Centre, said it was not all bad news for the city.
He added: “At the end of June, the annual price change in Aberdeen was down by 7.3%, so I’m not surprised it has come down by more than 8%.
“However, the change at the end of five years was plus 2%.
“This means that, despite the downturn in the market caused by the oil price downturn, we still have an average price increase compared to five years ago.
“Aberdeen was the first city to recover from the financial crisis of 2008 and other areas of Scotland are only just recovering from this.
“We still have 70% of the sales we had a year ago. So, if we were selling ten properties then, we are selling seven now.
“Of course, this will not mean much to someone who has had their property on the market for a year, but it is not all doom and gloom.”
Sarah Woodcock, manager of the Highlands Solicitor Property Centre, responded: “Our number of sales this year to date is up by 6%.
“2016 was slow to start with, but we are pleased activity has increased and has been stable over the summer.
“Our number of inquirers has been exceptionally busy, with our unique users on the website increasing every month and in September, it was up by 37%.”
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