Edinburgh 'to see house prices grow'

Edinburgh and the surrounding Lothians region will still experience house price growth irrespective of the national picture, estate agents and solicitors in the Scottish capital have predicted.

Scott Brown, a partner at Warners Estate Agency, told the Edinburgh Evening News there would be a slowdown in growth rather than a crash, a situation he believed was very healthy.

He said: "It is time some realism was injected back into the market," adding a prediction that growth in the area would be between one and four per cent.

Mr Brown stated that Edinburgh was a "very distinct market" and suggestions there could be a house price crash were "way off the mark".

A Daily Telegraph survey carried out by Lombard Research this week concluded that house prices were likely to fall across the UK this year.

However, several industry experts told the paper last week that there would not be a crash.

Barry Naisbitt, chief economist at Abbey National, predicted a two per cent increase in prices, while Nationwide economist Martin Gahbauer said growth would be "broadly flat".


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