AN Edinburgh mansion has been snapped up for £4m – setting what is believed to be a record for the most expensive residential home sale in Scotland since the 2008 crash.
Hillwood House, on the slopes of Corstorphine Hill, cost almost £1m more than the most expensive mansion sold north of the border last year.
With nine bedrooms, a tennis court, cinema room, gym and links to one of Scotland’s most famous exports, the property was sold just a month after going on the market.
Once home to the MacKinnon family of Drambuie fame, the house was sold by upmarket estate agents Strutt & Parker for “just shy of £4m” to an undisclosed buyer this week.
The sale will raise hopes that confidence is returning to a market that was shattered by the economic crisis of seven years ago.
It was revealed yesterday that sales of £1m plus homes in Scotland are on the rise.
Last year 146 properties reached seven figures – up from 137 in 2013 while estate agents Savills predicted further growth in the sector.
Savills sold the most expensive residential property in Scotland last year – a £3,070,000 mansion in Aberdeen’s most exclusive streets – Rubislaw.
But now, just a few months into 2015, the record has been smashed by Hillwood House, thought to be the most expensive residential home sold in Scotland since the financial crash.
The stunning Edinburgh property, built in 1872, has been expertly restored retaining period features while included a state of the art gym and cinema room.
It also came with a private seven acre private garden and tennis court while being situated just a few miles from Edinburgh city centre.
Hillwood House also has a remarkable links to Scottish industry and was once the ancestral seat of the MacKinnons.
They made their fortune producing the Drambuie made from whisky, honey, herbs and spices.
According to legend, the family guarded its secret recipe for centuries after Bonnie Prince Charlie gifted it to Captain John MacKinnon as a reward for helping him flee after his defeat at Culloden in 1746.
Hillwood house was still the Scottish base of Drambuie until it was sold about a decade ago.
Blair Stewart, a partner at Strutt & Parker, said 66 sales in excess of £1 million were recorded in Edinburgh last year.
Mr Blair, whose office sold Hillwood House, declined to comment on the sale.
Speaking about the wider market, he sounded a note of caution.
“2014’s figures were slightly up on the previous three years but still only represents 52% of the total sales at the peak of the market in 2007,” he said.
“Transactions in this sector are still a long way off the Boom years of 2007/2008.”
However Alan Fraser, of Edinburgh based Investment Property Agency, believes sales such as Hillwood House will become more prevalent over the next few years.
“Confidence has returned,” he said. “People act by following each other.
“After seven years of property recession people are realising they need to get on with their lives.”
