The Edinburgh Solicitors’ Property Centre has reported a loss of over £77,000 as it tries to mount a strategy a Scotland-wide strategy to compete with the national portals.

The loss compares with profits of over £955,000 the previous year, and comes despite an uplift in revenues, from some £8.9m in the 2016 financial year to £10.3m in the 2017 financial year.

The ESPC’s accounts include those of the Glasgow Solicitors’ Property Centre, to which the ESPC provided a loan in April 2016 to help it restructure and return to profit.

In a note about the loan, the ESPC accounts say: “We recognise that in order to compete with national portals in the future the success of the Scottish Solicitors Portals is key.”

The ESPC essentially controls the GSPC, allowing the two “to work towards a shared vision for the future”.

Reporting on the financial year to the end of last May, the ESPC said there was an 8% drop in the number of properties coming to the market via the ESPC. It was also the first full year that its reduced registration price was in operation. The combination meant turnover from property market shrank by 13%.

A joint venture with the Law Society of Scotland, an online conveyancing platform called Altis, had produced slower uptake than anticipated.

The ESPC had also invested in BDP Technology, an estate agency software company.

In Scotland, property has traditionally been advertised and sold through solicitor firms rather than estate agents. Local SPCs, of which there are 12, are essentially collectives.

The Scottish Solicitors’ Property Centres are said to have traditional domination of the market. We found one reference saying that the Edinburgh EPC has around 85% market share in its region.

As from this month, Rightmove has begun including Scottish data for the first time in its monthly house price reports. It says it only lists properties with estate agents and developers and none from SPCs, although it does  list properties from member firms such as Mov8, Simpson and Marwick, McEwan Fraser Legal etc.

Today on Rightmove, there were 794 Edinburgh properties. However, stripping out new builds, the number is 554. This compares with 584 properties in Edinburgh listed on the ESPC website, which are exclusively solicitor estate agents and don’t include new builds.

Commenting on the latest accounts, Paul Hilton, CEO of ESPC, told us:  “These figures were part of our long term business strategy.

“They don’t reflect a loss of market share during what has been a quieter time for the market as a whole.

“ESPC continues to be the dominant property marketing channel throughout east central Scotland, with independent market research continuing to verify that ESPC is the first port of call for house hunters in this area.

“And as property is often listed with ESPC before publication onto other portals this continues to be the place where home buyers can find properties for sale first.”

* Separately, estate agent Your Move has reported that transactions in Scotland have hit a ten-year high, while another agent, Bell Ingram, has said that 25% of all house buyers in Scotland are English.