DTZ Residential Estate Agency Business in Scotland has been bought over by Blackie Ballantyne.

The deal, launching Blackie Ballantyne as Scotland’s newest estate agency, involves former DTZ employees Cameron Blackie and Rory Ballantyne, who are predicting a positive year for the housing market and are expecting to sell over 400 properties in their first year.

"We have established Blackie Ballantyne when all the signs are pointing towards an overall improvement in the Scottish housing market," said co-director, Cameron Blackie, who was in post as a Scottish director at DTZ for over four years.

"As a result, we are confident of achieving over 400 property sales in the year ahead," he said. "We are delighted that the deal is complete and look forward to working with DTZ on future projects."

Rory Ballantyne, a qualified surveyor and member of RICS, said recent figures from the RICS and ESPC indicated that both sales’ prices and the volume of sales are rising.

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"The last couple of years have been extremely difficult in the residential property markets but the indications are that the Scottish market is more resilient than most," he said. "We believe that 2010 will see the markets begin to make tentative steps towards recovery."

Cameron Blackie added: "We will provide a customer centric approach to residential estate agency, with a focus on being flexible and responsive to our clients and capitalising on our experienced team and knowledge of the property market in Scotland.

"The response from DTZ clients has been overwhelmingly positive and we have been delighted by the retention rate amongst them."

Welcoming the deal, James Thomson, Business Manager of DTZ in Scotland, said: "A change in emphasis within DTZ means that we are no longer best placed to take this business forward. We are delighted to be passing it into the capable hands of Blackie Ballantyne and we are sure that it will continue to thrive under Cameron and Rory's stewardship.

"DTZ in Scotland will continue to provide residential development and land consultancy advice to clients through our Development Director John Brown. We hope to continue working with Blackie Ballantyne where there are projects where our combined skills add value for our clients."

Blackie Ballantyne has retained the majority of the original DTZ estate agency team who are based at its Queensferry Street office or working on-site for developer clients.

(GK/BMcC)