A HELENSBURGH property expert says he expects the local market to bounce back once lockdown restrictions are eased.

Graeme Armour’s prediction comes after official government data showed Argyll and Bute had the second smallest annual increase in average house prices for all of Scotland’s mainland local authorities in 2020.

The average cost of a home in Argyll and Bute last year was £154,815, placing the region 18th in a list of the 32 Scottish council areas.

That value marked a 1.7 per cent rise on the previous year, while there were around 40 more property transactions in Argyll and Bute in the year to October 2020 compared to the previous 12 months, despite the impact of the pandemic.

The number of house sales nationwide last year rose by almost a third on 2019 totals, with detached homes seeing the largest price increase year-on-year.

Experts have pointed to the growing clamour among homeowners for more space, and lockdown forcing people to re-evaluate their living situation, as reasons behind the trends.

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Mr Armour (pictured inset), who has more than 30 years’ experience in the property market as a director of Allied Surveyors Scotland, based in the firm’s Helensburgh office, said a further surge in sales is predicted in 2021.

Writing on the company’s website, he said: “One of the most interesting factors to emerge from the various lockdowns is the number of people deciding to completely up sticks and move to a more affordable area with wide open spaces, good air quality and less stress.

“Estate agents operating in the Helensburgh area are reporting a significant number of enquiries from south of the border.

“2021 has started off fairly well in Helensburgh, although the further lockdown has stifled the market slightly.

“For various reasons, however, people still have to put their house on the market whether it is for family reasons, a new job or because they have bought another property, so this has been keeping us going.

“We can perhaps expect another very busy period post lockdown where we see good prices and above home report value.”

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Mr Armour also said social media has become an important medium for selling property as certain restrictions remain in place – and forecast that it could be an increasingly useful tool for buyers and sellers in future.

He said: “We could tell quite early on that we were going to be busy when things started to re-open. The months between June and October [2020] were some of the busiest the property market has seen.

“Part of the reason for this was down to people re-evaluating their lifestyle choices. Transport links were not quite so important as people didn’t have to commute to work.

“The only problem post lockdown was that the demand was outstripping supply which meant that there was upward pressure on property prices.

“As news of a second lockdown reared its ugly head, there was a slight push for people to get their house on the market before stricter guidelines came into force and the market started to get quieter which, for that time of year - November/December, was to be expected.

“People who might have thought about selling decided to wait until the new year to put their house on the market although in a lot of cases they have now put off that decision until restrictions lift again.”

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