Strong start to 2017 reported by D&R Property Sales

Scotland's oldest firm of land agents, Davidson and Robertson (D&R), has reported a strong start to 2017, after seeing a significant increase in property sales work during the first six months of this year.

Up to mid-June, D&R has brought 14 properties to the open market, including agricultural, lifestyle, rural residential and equestrian properties that have attracted a wide range of purchasers.

Ten of the properties are currently under offer or the sales have concluded, with nine of them following successful closing dates. There are a further seven sales confirmed for open market, which will be coming in the next few weeks.

Despite the uncertainty in the agricultural industry surrounding Brexit, D&R has had strong interest in all properties marketed and its agents have noticed an increase in private transactions.

There has been a number of successful off-market sales and D&R is receiving more instructions to work for purchasers and sellers across a variety of land uses.

In recent weeks, D&R has launched Candyburn Farm in South Lanarkshire and Blackhills Farm in Aberdeenshire.

Candyburn is a livestock farm extending to 282.8 acres and includes a farmhouse and small range of farm buildings.

The instruction follows recent success in the area, including Romanno Mains Farm, which is under offer following a competitive closing date.

Meanwhile, Blackhills Farm comprises 113.69 acres of predominantly arable land with a farmhouse and traditional steading ideally suited to renovation, as well as some more modern agricultural buildings.

Candyburn Farm is advertised at offers over £820,000 and Blackhills is on the market at offers over £500,000.

The build-up and increase of property sales work has been evident over the last 18 months.

The strong start to 2017 follows a very good year in 2016, both in publicly marketed properties and private transactions.

Over the last 12 months, one of the main areas of growth has been in the forestry sector, driven by purchasers actively looking for plantable land and commercial forests.

D&R’s forestry manager Iain Kyle is currently involved in a large number of purchase and sale instructions in relation to forestry interests, providing expert arboricultural advice to compliment the purchase and sale negotiations.

D&R’s sales success derives from the appropriate assessment of property characteristics, valuation advice and marketing strategy, plus close collaboration with legal and financial advisers.

George Hipwell, associate director at D&R, had the following to say about the positive results for the business: “It’s fantastic to see that there is such a strong interest in the likes of agricultural, rural residential and equestrian properties from a wide variety of purchasers, particularly in the current economic and political climate. We have a growing database of active buyers looking for a range of properties.”

He continued: “The increase in the number of private sales has been really interesting, and it’s something that our expert team take great pride in handling in a professional manner.”