Bridging Loan
Aberdeen

Aberdeen house prices and rents

The average home in Aberdeen sold for £131,000 in July 2026, down 8.7% on £143,000 a year earlier, according to ONS figures from the UK House Price Index. That is below the Scottish average of £196,349, which moved up 2.3%.

The gap between property types is wide: £93,000 for flats and maisonettes, £145,000 for terraces, £181,000 for semis and £299,000 for detached homes. In the twelve months to July 2026, semi-detached prices fell 7.0% and flats 10.1%.

First-time buyers paid £110,000 on average (£121,000 a year before) and home-movers £170,000. Mortgaged purchases averaged £138,000 and cash purchases £115,000.

Private rents in Aberdeen and Shire averaged £845 a month in August 2026, down 0.5% from £850. One-bedroom homes let for £601, two bedrooms £776, three £965 and four or more £1,577. The ONS notes that Scottish rent data mainly covers advertised new lets.

That puts Aberdeen and Shire below the Scottish average of £1,013, with rents across Scotland up 1.1% over the same year. By type, one-bedroom rents rose 1.2%, while detached rents fell 2.8%.

In context, Aberdeen homes averaged 52.0% less than the UK figure of £273,000, while home-movers paid £60,000 more than first-time buyers (£170,000 against £110,000), and rents outpaced prices, down 0.5% against -8.7% for values, and a four-bedroom let cost 2.6 times a one-bedroom let.

What the figures mean for a bridge in Aberdeen

Take £145,000, the Aberdeen terraced average: a lender advancing 70% would put up close to £100,000. On a £181,000 semi at 75% the figure is nearer £135,000. Both are before deductions for retained interest and arrangement fees.

Where the exit is a buy-to-let mortgage, an Aberdeen flat letting at £672 against a £93,000 average price yields about 8.7% gross, and a terrace at £847 against £145,000 about 7.0%. At those levels, rent usually covers a buy-to-let lender's stress test with room to spare. Our bridging calculator covers the cost of the bridge itself.

What tax adds to an Aberdeen purchase

Aberdeen purchases fall under Scotland's Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, run by Revenue Scotland, and investors usually add the Additional Dwelling Supplement at 8% of the price. On the 2026 to 2027 rates, a terraced house at the £145,000 average would cost about £11,600 in Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, and a flat at £93,000 about £7,440, for an individual buying an additional home, including the supplement.

The legal side is different too. The lender's security is a standard security under Scots law, registered in the Land Register of Scotland by Registers of Scotland, Scottish solicitors act, and the contract is formed by missives. Where works are planned, a building warrant may be needed from the council before they start. See building warrants on mygov.scot, and our pages on bridging loans in Scotland and development finance in Scotland.

Who decides planning in Aberdeen

Aberdeen City Council is the planning authority. It formally adopted the Aberdeen Local Development Plan 2023 on 19 June 2023, and work on its successor, the Aberdeen Local Development Plan 2028, began in 2023 with an Evidence Report; the council expects to adopt it in 2028. National Planning Framework 4 forms part of the development plan alongside the local plan.

Lenders that lend in Aberdeen

For Aberdeen, our panel has 16 lenders that offer first charge bridging. For Scotland we list only lenders whose own guides name Scotland and whose postcode rules include Aberdeen. Others may lend here, but until their coverage is confirmed we check it deal by deal. Coverage comes from each lender's own criteria, and we confirm it for the exact address before we approach anyone.

Bridging loans in Aberdeen: questions