Property stock levels have dropped significantly over the last year in cities and towns across Scotland, new data from DJ Alexander shows.

The Lomond Group owned agency has revealed that the number of properties available for sale fell by between 31% and 47% year-on-year between January 2021 and 2022. The only exception was Aberdeen where the fall in volumes was down just 3%.

The highest drop in property numbers occurred in Stirling where volumes fell 47%. This was closely followed by Dundee at 46%; Glasgow down 45%; Paisley falling 43%; and Edinburgh and Perth dropping 42% and 40% respectively.

Although these falls in available property levels are replicated across the rest of the UK, the reduction in volumes is generally in the 20% range across most of England’s larger cities. The exception is York where there has been a 61% drop whereas London, Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham have all experienced falls between 21% and 26%.

David Alexander, chief executive officer of DJ Alexander Scotland, commented: “Anyone involved with the property sector will already know that there is a severe shortage of properties for sale on the market and those that do arrive are being sold very quickly.”

“The volumes have fallen across most of Scotland with the exception of Aberdeen which continues to be subdued and is likely to remain so for as long as there is no clear sign of what is going to happen with the oil and gas sector.”

He continued: “For the rest of Scotland it is something of a boom time. The increase in interest rates may have an impact at some point but given the scale of the shortages of property it is unlikely to rapidly reduce demand in the marketplace.”

“There are multiple reasons for this, not least the loss of a substantial period of housebuilding due to the pandemic and subsequent labour and material shortages. We need to have a certain number of new properties built each year simply to keep up with demand and if that stops for even a relatively short period the impact is substantial on demand. Equally there are growing signs of a return of EU nationals and others to work in Scotland, and this increases demand across the property sector which has a knock-on impact upon availability.”

Alexander expects the existing level of demand for property to slow, although he acknowledges that this may be mitigated by pressure from the lack of available stock.

He added: “I think that property prices will perhaps slow in the coming months from their current substantial growth, but I don’t think we will see any sudden slowdown or reversal. Indeed, I can see demand being sustained into the summer and Autumn of this year with perhaps a slowdown toward Winter as the various financial impacts of rising base rates, higher national insurance, increasing utility costs, and growing food prices start to impact upon budgets and lifestyles reducing the availability of buyers with as much to spend on housing. But as long as demand remains at this level and supply remains subdued it is hard to see any dramatic fall in prices in the coming months.”

Number of properties advertised for sale

Place                                  January 2022                                  January 2021                   %

Stirling                               96                                                     51                                      -47

Dundee                             370                                                   201                                    -46

Glasgow                            1182                                                 2153                                  -45

Paisley                               256                                                   147                                    -43

Edinburgh                        1972                                                 1150                                  -42

Perth                                 208                                                   124                                    -40

Hamilton                          210                                                   129                                    -39

East Kilbride                     208                                                   138                                              -34

Inverness                          239                                                   166                                    -31

Aberdeen                         2968                                                 2882                                            -3

English cities

York                                   1038                                                 410                                    -61

Newcastle                         3020                                                 1684                                  -44

Leeds                                 2068                                                 1354                                  -35

Sheffield                           1134                                                 766                                    -32

Birmingham                     4270                                                 3167                                  -26

Manchester                     4833                                                 3574                                  -26

London                             62410                                               46566                                -25

Liverpool                          4880                                                 3863                                  -21

Source: DJ Alexander