Dunfermline

[catmandu]

Unfortunately I'm not particularly looking in Dunfermline - I'm looking nearer Edinburgh where I see little evidence of price drops in the 300k region.

Doing a search for 200k-300k (Dunfermline is generally about 100k less than Edinburgh), every house is either reduced 5-15%, or new on the market. Having so much new stuff coming on can't be good for the existing houses on the market. I was looking in this area a while back - the houses I went to view are either still on the market (at same prices) or have been taken off the market unsold.

If I could face the commute over the bridge, I'd be looking at Dunfermline rather than Edinburgh, particularly as the price gap widens.

The Edinburgh market seems to be bustling (at least some houses I've viewed have been sold), and I suspect those sale prices are well above what I'd be happy to pay. My experience is the usual - vendors refusing to budge, not particularly keen to sell quickly. Buyers being forced to either pay near the asking or not buy. Surveyors putting very optimistic valuations on the houses. All in all, not a good time to be a buyer unless you're in the FTB market in which case there do seem to be some nice drops. I'm sure it'll filter up eventually, but don't see that happening quickly.

[kenzdawg]

Funny you should mention this since I was thinking of starting to look in Dunfermline. I`ve always thought of it as a dull dormitory town for Edinburgh with nothing much else to recommend it, and like most small towns in slow long term decline. I`ve been trying to think of a list of Edinburgh alternatives lately: they are 1) Glasgow - yuck, if nothing else, and there is a great deal of something else the built environment and infrastructure are dire. Pavements are shite, buildings in poor repair, transport awful etc etc. 2)Stirling/Bridge of Allen - quite pricey actually. 3) St andrews - middle of nowhere and absurdly expensive 4) Perth - one hour to Edinburgh and dull, dull, dull. 5) Central commuter belt - not a lot of choice in the housing stock, half million pound villas and council houses are the only options it seems to me.So I`m open to suggestion.

BTW the ESPC stats say sale prices in Dunfermline have been fairly static there.

[catmandu]

I wouldn't say Dunfermline is a dull dormitory town for Edinburgh - it has good shopping - (better than Princes St??) nice parks etc. The main problem for me is the level of suburban sprawl - the houses they are building now are a long way from Dunfermline centre and there is A LOT more housing to get built there. I was told by an EA that it's the biggest housing estate development in Europe and is only half complete (much delayed since the boom ended and people stopped buying new homes). If you don't have to commute to Edinburgh, it's probably a good place to live if you can drive.

Very interesting that you point out there is little change in Dunfermline house prices. I wonder how this can be. I would hazard a guess that so little is selling, but I'm not sure that accounts for it.

Anyway, do the search - ESPC, Dunfermine, 200k-300k houses. The results suggest asking prices are falling across the board and there is plenty of new supply. It would be reasonable to assume that if the price gap between Dunfermline and Edinburgh increases, the former will become more popular. There is just so much competition for similar type houses that I wouldn't like to be a vendor there now.