Our latest quarterly house price report shows there is still a significant Reality Gap (the difference between what house sellers hope to sell their properties for and the price they actually achieve) as sellers achieve almost 10% less than their asking price.
The s1homes Scottish house price report reveals that the average asking price across Scotland rose by 1.73% to £169,269, in the 3 months to June. The average price that properties were actually sold for (as reported by Registers of Scotland) also increased from £148,733 (January to March) to £153,501 (April to June), up 3.2%. However, this means the average property in Scotland is still selling for around £15,500 less than the asking price. 
Mark Smith, Managing Director of s1homes said: “The report shows that house sellers are still being unrealistic with their expectations and setting their asking prices too high. Even with the slight increase in selling prices achieved the gap between expectation and reality is still very marked, particularly at the higher end of the market.”
Commenting on the report, Moya McVey of The Glasgow Property Agency said: “It would appear that agents have had to deliver an honest pricing strategy at lower levels in the market in order to sell and evidence can be shown due to the volume of transactions.In the higher price brackets, the volume of transactions has dipped and consequently there is less evidence to point sellers in the right direction.”
At the lower end of the market (flats and terraced houses), sellers remain to be more realistic and are still achieving marginally above their asking prices. However, at the higher end, the Reality Gap remains with the average selling price of a detached house at almost 20% below the average asking price.
Across Scotland, the majority of regions saw a decrease in the Reality Gap due to average prices achieved rising further than average asking prices. However, North & South Lanarkshire, Glasgow/Dunbartonshire and Falkirk all saw increases in the Reality Gap.
Edinburgh has once again bucked the trend. There is no Reality Gap in the capital with the average property being sold for slightly more than the asking price.
The report, published quarterly, samples around 30,000 properties advertised on s1homes.com every month and provides trends in the various property markets throughout Scotland. For more information visit www.s1homes.com/house-price-report/.