House prices have risen, but not by as much as 25 per cent, isles surveyor says

A leading valuation surveyor has poured cold water on claims that house prices have risen 25 per cent in Shetland in the third-quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2012.

According to Michael Thomson, who has 30 years’ experience as a chartered valuation surveyor in Shetland, the true like-for-
like increase “almost certainly lies between five per cent minimum and 10 per cent maximum.”

He was responding to Registers of Scotland statistics that show Shetland easily topping a generally recovering Scottish housing market with one-quarter growth on domestic house prices, compared with Aberdeen, for instance, which is the next most buoyant area with growth of about 10 per cent.

The figures show a rise in average house price from £109,945 in July-September 2012 to £137,655 in the same period this year. Prices are also listed as having risen 18.2 per ce