Shetland house price rise queried
CLAIMS that house prices in Shetland have risen by almost 20 per cent over the first six months of this year have been queried by the isles’ largest estate agent.
Robert Bell, property manager with Dowle, Smith & Rutherford, said prices were recovering, but not to that extent.
He said Shetland house prices had been sheltered from the worst of the market crash a few years ago.
Mr Bell was reacting to the latest LSL/Acad Scotland house price index, which suggests that Shetland is well ahead of the overall slow recovery in the national property market.
He said an increase of 20 per cent in value was not what his office was experiencing and suggested that the figures were “skewed”.
In comparison, house prices in the Scottish Borders were down by almost 10 per cent, according to the same study.
Mr Bell said: “Shetland certainly has been very fortunate in that the market has not been affected to the same extent that it has in most other parts of the country.
“The danger with this sort of statistics is that they can easily be skewed. Prices are rising, but 20 per cent would be the exception rather than the rule.”
He said that in order to arrive at a proper analysis of the housing market people needed to be looking at longer term comparisons.
“We in Shetland have been protected to some extent by just being out on our own a little bit,” he added.
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