Mention Scotland to most North
Americans and they will tell you everything there is to know about the country,
perhaps even sharing with you their Gaelic heritage. Mention Wales, on the other
hand, and the conversation rapidly dissolves. The story is similar for the
property markets in both regions. While the market in Scotland is in the midst
of unprecedented growth—property prices have more than doubled in the last
decade—Wales is reluctant to open its doors to a wider audience despite a
steady demand.
Two-thirds of all buyers in Scotland are either from England or
overseas. Buyers from England are attracted to the high market value; a
six-bedroom detached villa in Aberdeen, for instance, goes for the same price as
a four-bedroom terraced townhouse in London’s suburbs. And overseas buyers are
drawn to Scotland for its fairy-tale cottages, crofts and country estates.
Though the golfing mecca of St Andrews is highly desirable, the demand is
greatest around the capital of Edinburgh, where, since being declared a World
Heritage site, the city has experienced a shortage of estate homes and land for
developing. Buyers can, however, select from an array of Georgian and Victorian
single-family homes.
 Scotland’s thriving real estate market consists
mostly of private urban homes and country estates, but a few proposed resort
communities promise additional opportunities for buyers. The Highland
Club, set off the southern shore of Loch Ness, is a 24-acre property that will
include 97 apartments and 12 cottages in a communal environment. Photograph by Tom Baker. (Click image to enlarge)
Edinburgh’s real estate market has grown by 146 percent in the
last 10 years, with an average house priced around $2.1 million. A notable
newcomer is Quartermile, a $1.7 billion project set within the 19-acre Royal
Infirmary, which was originally built in 1740. When renovations are completed in
2012, it will include a 65-room boutique hotel and a mixture of 900 contemporary
and period residences. In nearby East Lothian, the 550-acre Archerfield
Estate is another project rooted in history. With 100 homesites for sale, the
property’s selling points are its two links golf courses and a newly refurbished
16th-century mansion, which houses a 15-suite hotel and restaurant.
Country estates that offer access to fishing, grousing and
stalking are the highest in demand in Scotland, fuelled by London’s high-flown
business executives who have experienced better rates of return from Scottish
property than they have from the British stock market. Also investing heavily
are Russian oligarchs, who are attracted to the traditional Scottish lifestyle.
Most estates are situated in the woodland and moorland regions of Perthshire and
Invernesshire, where the rivers are rife with trout and salmon. Prices for
country estates typically range from $10 million up to $40 million, not
including hidden expenses such as annual upkeep fees, which can be around
$200,000.
 A
country home 55 miles from Edinburgh is listed through
Strutt & Parker
for $885,000. (Click image to enlarge)
But such properties are rare. Strutt & Parker, a UK
property consultant firm that sells about a dozen estates annually, reports that
most are sold privately. When country estates do come on the market, buyers
usually outnumber sellers by a ratio of eight to one, creating a market where
buyers are happy paying as much as 30 percent more than the property’s appraised
value.
Newly built resort communities that offer golf, dining and
coastal views without the upkeep of a rural estate may be Scotland’s next big
real estate trend. If government land authorities approve plans, the largest of
several proposed projects will be Donald Trump’s $2 billion Aberdeen resort set
beside three miles of coastline on the North Sea. The anticipated 1,400-acre
complex—known as Trump International Golf Links, Scotland, and located on the
land of a 14th-century sporting estate—would include two championship golf
courses, a golf academy, tennis courts, a 450-room luxury hotel and nearly 1,500
private residences. Local officials voted against the project last December, but
the Scottish government called in the resort’s building application for further
review; a new decision is expected sometime this spring.
Trump is not the only North American trying to develop some of
Scotland’s prime real estate. Although details have not been announced, American
developer Tim Blixseth has invested in a 265-acre site that overlooks St Andrews
Bay for a Yellowstone Club World resort. And until recently, Wasserman Real
Estate Capital in Providence, Rhode Island, had been in the throes of converting
the landmark St Andrews Grand—a former Victorian hotel set along the 18th green
of the legendary Old Course—into a membership residence club that would have
granted owners limited access to a specific unit. The company is currently
restructuring its business plan so that buyers can purchase units outright.
Already approved and under renovation is the Highland Club,
located to the north in the remote Highlands. Set back on 24 acres on the
southern shore of Loch Ness with 97 luxury apartments and 12 cottages, the
project is slated for completion in summer 2009. The development will also
include the cloisters and towers of a 130-year-old former monastery. In addition
to mooring rights, tennis courts, cricket fields and fishing, owners have access
to the stained-glass, oak-paneled Club Lounge and game room that once served
as the monks’ refectory.
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