Median price at August 2008: £159,048

General increase since Sept 2007: 9%

Projected increase to Sept 2009: 0-2%

Five-year increase: 91% (£83,155)

Ten-year increase: 191% (£54,615)

The complete Fife price guide

In many respects Fife is Scotland’s most interesting county from a house-price perspective and, like Lanarkshire in the west, is a market we have always considered to be a key location in terms of understanding any emerging Scottish housing trends.

All life is in Fife — from grim, post-industrial wastelands to quaint villages, from new towns and commuter estates, to holiday settlements, corporate golf lets, castles and council flats. For good reason, Fife is described as Scotland’s housing market in miniature.

So, with so much going on and so much seemingly contradictory evidence, it is no surprise to find Fife is the one market where opinion has been polarised between the evidence of the lender HBOS (who quote a 9% capital growth gain this year) and of our experts on the ground who are erring towards stagnation or, at worst, a 5% drop in prices in some sectors.

On new-build estates, especially where there is both oversupply and no second-hand resale market to speak of on account of builders’ new home incentives, things look particularly bleak.

Those holding out for last year’s peak prices are facing a rude awakening and, in Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes and where there is a glut of choice, sales are only being completed once homes find their level at 5%-10% below last year’s prices in some cases.

As a result we have scaled back last year’s predictions in some cases to reflect the lack of activity this year. Last year’s HBOS 10% increase prediction has probably been played out nearer 0%-2% and we see more of the same in the coming year. Indeed, where there is oversupply of new-build homes and flats, we’d expect to see price falls, in some instances, of 5%.

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