Why are Americans snapping up Scotland’s high-end homes?
Americans have been on a shopping spree for properties in Scotland.
US buyers now represent 4% of total transactions recorded by real estate firm Savills, up from 1% in 2019. Agents report a sustained surge in buying from Americans, particularly at the top of the market. Interest really picked up after the pound plunged last year to near parity with the US dollar—the weakest on record. The UK currency has recovered, but property interest remains, agents say.
Ricardo Volpi, from Knight Frank, says 40% of prime purchases—deals exceeding £1 million ($1.25 million)—in Edinburgh were by buyers from outside Scotland. This includes Londoners and Scots returning after living and working elsewhere, but he’s seen Americans looking for historic homes or a pied-à-terre in the city.
“There is a lot of demand for townhouses in the city center in the £2 million-plus range with outdoor space,” says Volpi, who highlights New Town, an area north of Princes Street known for Georgian-period homes, as a hot spot. He’s an agent on one of Scotland’s most expensive listings: aneight-bedroom house designed in Scots Baronial style, with 7.8 acres of landscaped gardens and woodlands, that’s listed for £6 million.
With a population of just over a half-million people, Edinburgh is known for its scenic medieval city center, the thousand-year-old castle in the middle of the city, its thriving pub and whisky scene, and summer festivals such as the Fringe. In tourism, Edinburgh is the UK’s second-most-visited city, after London; a boom in new luxury hotel openings includes the top-rated Gleneagles Townhouse and 100 Princes Street, which the operators of Ashford Castle intend to open next year.
Sales of homes priced above £1 million have been on a tear
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