Orkney Islands · report
Foreign buyers in Orkney Islands
Figures for United Kingdom: Orkney Islands has no reliable figures of its own.
Buyers living abroad bought 1.8% of the homes sold here in the four quarters to Q1 2025.
- Bought by buyers abroad, 12 months
- 1.8%
Homes bought by buyers living abroad in the United Kingdom
Share of purchases in England and Northern Ireland paying the non-resident surcharge on stamp duty land tax, by quarter (HMRC). UK citizens living abroad count as non-residents.
Show the numbers
| Period | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | 1.6% |
| Q4 2024 | 1.8% |
| Q3 2024 | 1.8% |
| Q2 2024 | 2.2% |
| Q1 2024 | 2.2% |
| Q4 2023 | 2.2% |
| Q3 2023 | 2.1% |
| Q2 2023 | 2.0% |
| Q1 2023 | 2.2% |
| Q4 2022 | 2.0% |
| Q3 2022 | 2.1% |
| Q2 2022 | 2.0% |
Who lives here
Net migration: the people who moved in, from abroad or the rest of the UK, minus those who left, in each year to 30 June (ONS).
- Net migration, Orkney Islands, 2025
- +10
- 0.5 per 1,000 residents
Residence is not nationality: a foreign citizen living in the UK buys as a resident, and a UK citizen living abroad as a non-resident. The count is of purchases paying the non-resident surcharge on stamp duty land tax, which applies in England and Northern Ireland only. HMRC stopped publishing it each quarter after March 2025, so the report ends there.
Other reports for Orkney Islands
Sale prices have an 80% chance of landing between £171,605 and £249,475 by August 2027.
- Expected, August 2027
- £210,540
- Chance of a rise
- 42%
At the average sale price, a home costs £216,479. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £999 a month. The UK sets no cap on the payment; no more than 15% of new mortgages may lend over 4.5 times income.
- Payment, two incomes
- 14%
- Payment, one income
- 28%
Figures for Scotland: Orkney Islands has no reliable figures of its own.
Owning the average home costs less each month than renting it. Owning counts interest, running costs and the return the deposit could earn, at the average sale price; rent is the average of all private tenancies. Repaying the loan is saving, so it is left out.
- Rent per month
- £1,011
- Owning per month
- £934
38.8% fewer homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.
- Started, 12 months
- 49
- Per 1,000 residents
- 2.2
Sale prices have fallen by 3% or more 21 times since 2004. The deepest began in November 2019.
- Deepest fall
- −27.7%
- Recovery from the low
- 7 months
In 2025 the population fell by 79 while 73 homes were finished.
- Homes finished, 2025
- 73
- Population change, 2025
- −79
In 2026, 10% of the homes added came from existing buildings rather than new ones.
- Homes from existing buildings, 2026
- 10%