Edinburgh continues to be Scotland’s most expensive property market with homes costing an average of £2,669 per square meter while Grangemouth is the cheapest at £1,016, new research shows.
Overall in Scotland, house prices per square meter have risen by 20% since 2013 from an average of £1,320 to £1,579 in 2018, according to the research from the Bank of Scotland.
Edinburgh is Scotland’s most expensive place at £2,669 per square meter followed by Linlithgow in West Lothian at £2,076 and Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire at £2,039.
Larkhall and Lanark have recorded the biggest price increase since 2013 with a rise of 33% while West and Central Scotland have seen the biggest increase over the last five years.
Prices per square meter increased by 33% to an average of £1,163 in Larkhall and to £1,579 in Lanark followed by Dalkeith, Bathgate and Hamilton all up 32%.
Grangemouth in Stirlingshire is the least expensive town in Scotland with an average price of £1,016 per square meter, followed by Bellshill in North Lanarkshire at £1,030.
‘It can be useful when comparing house prices to use a measure such as house price per square metre as it reflects differences in size and type of properties in different locations,’ said Graham Blair, mortgages director at the Bank of Scotland.
‘Towns in the East and the North are more expensive than West and Central areas. However, several towns in the West have seen significant increases in the last five years. Despite this, a clear gap has formed between England, particularly London, and Scotland, Ireland and Wales over the last 20 years,’ he added.
Of the top 10 most expensive towns in Scotland per square meter, six are in Edinburgh and the Lothians with the remaining four in Aberdeenshire. However, the difference in price per between Broxburn in West Lothian, one of the top 10 most expensive towns in Scotland, and Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, the least expensive town in Scotland, is only £653 per square meter.
The report suggests that this show that Scotland’s housing market is less polarised than south of the border, with the difference between Lambeth, one of the top 10 most expensive towns in England, and Nelson, the least expensive town in England, some £5,465.
Eight of the 10 towns with the lowest prices per square meter are in either Central or Western Scotland. After Grangemouth and Bellshill, the next lowest is Irvine at £1,090, Larkhall at £1,163, Coatbridge at £1,147 and Wishaw at £1,159, all in Central Scotland, along with Greenock at £1,090 and Dumfries at £1,124.
The two towns with the lowest house prices on a per square meter basis are Lochgelly at£1,100 and Glenrothes at £1,167, both in Fife in the East of Scotland.
The East of Scotland has seen the biggest house price per square meter increases in Scotland over the last 20 years. Edinburgh grew the most at 207%, followed by Stonehaven up 200%, Inverness up 179% and Elgin up 177%. Edinburgh is the only town in Scotland to have an average house price per square meter above the British average of £2,342.
The data also shows that the average price per square meter across Scotland has increased by 148% over the past 20 years from £637 in 1998 to £1,579 in 2018. This is the lowest increase in Britain, with Greater London experiencing price hikes of 301% and Wales seeing an increase of 180%. The average increase across Britain since 1998 is 215%.
