When we were in (on?) Lewis in June 2005 we took a look at some of the houses that were for sale and one we particularly liked the look of was this one at Skigersta (typical Hebridean weather!).
It was on the market at the time for offers over £75,000 and sold four months later for £80,000. Now, a fraction over 3 years later, it’s back on the market at an astonishing ‘offers over £135,000′!
If we accept what’s being fed to us that house prices have dropped by 15% in the past year that means that the asking price of this particular house doubled in just two years. It’s not as though it was a wreck that has been done up because it was in ‘walk in’ condition when we saw it in 2005. That’s simply ridiculous and does nobody on Lewis any good except, maybe, the person who bought it. Even then, if they were local they will hardly benefit because they are going to have to pay a ridiculously inflated price for whatever they move into. On the other hand if it was bought by someone off-island as a speculative investment they have, indeed, made a healthy profit (assuming it sells). They probably don’t give a stuff about making it impossible for native islanders to buy a house of their own. It’s just money, money, money!
A few months earlier we were staying in a self-catering cottage in Cnip (actually one half of a house). The lady who owned it (who had lived there since she was married and whose husband’s family had farmed the croft since the 1850’s) was bemoaning the fact that another house in the township (of which there are only 15 houses) had recently been sold for £115,000, a sum that had most local people amazed and saddened. She felt (rightly) that such figures would drive away the youth of the area who could never afford a house at that price. In the event the sale fell through but the house was sold a few months later for £138,000! Within six weeks it had been given a lick of white paint and was put back on the market at £200,000. That’s disgraceful. I am sure that it must have been bought by an off-island speculator who knew nothing and cared nothing about the local people. Luckily it seems that it did not sell and whoever bought it still owns it. They were probably hanging on waiting for the next house price explosion. Serves them right! I hope they lose money.
In my opinion houses should be bought and sold for someone to live in, not as investments or money-grabbing opportunities. That’s part of the reason why so many folk are in dire straits now. I don’t feel at all sorry for those who have lost out in their attempts to make money but I do care about young people and locals who will now probably never be able to buy a house of their own.
If you want to check how the prices have risen in your area a good site for Scotland and the Islands is nethouseprices. You just need to enter a postcode and you will get (actual) local sales prices for the past couple of years.
Tags: cnip, house prices, islands, Lewis, self catering cottage, weather
January 7th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Les,
I’d stop worrying about sky-rocketing prices. Looking into windows of the local estate agents here in SY, prices are coming down - fast. Good luck with your move in 2010 and the attendant preparations.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Les thanks for your comment about my photos, re house prices here, some estate agent/solicitors put up a high price even when the seller is not asking it, i don’t know why, when i sold my first house here (I was on Scalpay for 2 years) the estate agent added 30% to my asking price, I was cross because I needed to sell it quick as I wanted this house in Ness, so if you see something you like ask to view and then make a first informal offer to the seller they might take less, if you get the house in Skigersta you will be up the road from me :o)
January 16th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Thanks for that advice. Interesting and very useful. There’s no dount that Estate Agents are responsible for the massive increases in house prices in recent year that has left the country in such a state but I assumed (perhaps naively) that in areas where there is still a community the greed wouldn’t have taken quite such a hold.
January 17th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Prices on Cumbrae have always been steeper than in Largs, despite it only being a ten minute ferry crossing between the two. when we started looking I was shocked at how much prices had gone up in only five or so years- now we have people unwilling -or unable- to accept that the bubble has burst, and the market is simply stagnant. There is probably close to 2 million pound worth of empty property sitting waiting for a buyer, and some flats have been on the market for two years or more. Something has to give eventually!
Good luck tho, Les, with your move- I’m sure it will be worth the wait.