A new report from Rettie said sales of Scottish £1 million+ homes fell in 2025, with 478 registered sales, down 7% year on year.
The most affected part of the market has been the £1.25m-£2m price segment, where sales dropped by more than 20% year on year.
The fall in sales was primarily concentrated in Edinburgh, where the number of £1m+ sales fell back to 234, the lowest level since 2021. However, Edinburgh still accounts for nearly half of all £1m+ sales in Scotland.
Glasgow saw the greatest rise in Scottish £1m+ sales in 2025, setting a new all-time high of 51 sales.
EH3 remains the leading district in Scotland for £1m+ sales, with 47 in 2025, followed by EH10 and EH4. However, the strongest growth has been in Glasgow markets including G12 including the West End and G46 including Giffnock.
“The market was likely affected by uncertainty, particularly around the UK and Scottish budgets and proposals for a mansion tax in both countries,” said Rettie.
“In reality, this tax will be a slight increase in Council Tax for higher value properties and should not be onerous. Another key factor behind the drop has been the sharp decline in prime new build sales in recent years.
“The part of the market that has been most affected has been the £1.25m-£2m price segment, where sales have dropped by over 20% YOY. The very top of the market (£2m+ sales) has been very stable in recent years, at just under 60 sales per annum.”
Rettie said the £1m+ second-hand home market has stabilised in Scotland since 2022, with the number of sales hovering around 450 per year. However, the new build market has now fallen to below 2020 levels as it has been impacted by weaker demand conditions and viability constraints.
Rettie added: “The outlook for 2026 is a little uncertain. With new Holyrood elections in May, proposals for a Mansion Tax announced in the Scottish Budget in January will be further defined later this year, although (as stated in our Budget Blog), we do not believe that this will be particularly onerous and, in effect, will mean slightly larger Council Tax bills for those with higher value properties.
“Any proposals for a wider Wealth Tax in Scotland will likely have an impact by probably reducing the number of buyers for the highest value properties. In the meantime, this prime market continues to operate reasonably well and contributes around £65 million per annum in residential Land & Buildings Transaction Tax to the Scottish Government.”