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ARTICLE · 02 FEBRUARY 2024

So How Accurate Is My Crystal Ball?

Shepherd and Wedderburn
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At the start of 2023, I wrote an article that identified key factors likely to affect the Aberdeen property market in the year ahead. Activity and investment in the energy sector...

United KingdomEnergy and Natural Resources
Peter Smith
Peter Smith
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At the start of 2023, I wrote an article that identified key factors likely to affect the Aberdeen property market in the year ahead. Activity and investment in the energy sector, buyer confidence in the residential market and progress towards energy transition were all expected to impact the local market.

Nationally, the energy sector has been a political football over the last 12 months, but global economic and political forces have a greater influence on the oil price, which remained resilient in 2023 and is key for driving activity in the UKCS and the north-east economy.

Activity in the oil and gas industry, investment in offshore renewables, energy transition, carbon capture and storage, and the arrival of cruise ships fuelled cautious optimism in the local market and that positivity was felt in all sectors of the commercial property market. However, it was not enough to insulate the local housing market from the headwinds facing the UK residential market.

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