The property market in Aberdeen appears to be showing slight signs of improvement – with Q3 of 2017 showing a 2.8% increase in the volume of sales compared to 2016.

According to the data provided by the Aberdeen Solicitors’ Property Centre (ASPC) to the Centre for Real Estate Research at University of Aberdeen, 1,339 properties were sold in the period of July-September.

Third quarter figures for our local housing market area are usually slightly down compared to the first two quarters of each year, as the first six months in our local market is usually the more active of the two halves in any year.

In my second quarter report I pointed out that we had experienced, for the first time in quite a while, mildly encouraging increases in both volume of sales and price. However, as I said then, the figures had to be set in the context of comparing 2017 with 2016 – 2016 having been a very poor year.

While one should not read too much into one year’s activity, it does look as if the third quarter, while demonstrating an expected reduction in activity, is continuing the trend of 2017 being a better year overall than 2016 e.g. in the second quarter the annual house price change in the city and suburbs was -4.2% but in the third quarter that has improved very slightly to -3.5%.

There should be no misunderstanding; the local housing market is still depressed and is still at a low level of activity. I expect the fourth quarter results to be in line with the third quarter results but there is some ground, given the general economic activity in our area - with some increase in oil industry activity - for hope that next year may see a continuation of the slow improvement in our market.