Scottish house prices increased by 4.5% over 2017, faster than any other region in Britain, taking the average price to £177,161, some £7,582 higher than a year ago.
Demand for property remains high with a lack of stock driving prices up and the housing market continues to benefit from historically low interest rates, according to the latest index from Your Move Scotland.
Scotland’s affordability ratio, comparing median full time earnings to median house prices, is the lowest of all British regions, at 4.7, against 7.8 for England.
Even excluding London and the South East, though, Scotland’s growth rate is double the rest of Britain’s, and easily faster than any other region. The report says that this is due to median full time wages being higher than anywhere outside London and the South East and having some of house the lowest prices in Britain.
The index shows that in December 2017 the main price rises were in Glasgow and along the Central Belt as well as the Highlands and Islands. East Dunbartonshire, which includes many of Glasgow’s suburbs, saw prices rise by 12.2% over the year, giving it now the most expensive average property price in the nation, at £259,566.
This is ahead of East Renfrewshire where the average price is £256,966 and East Dunbartonshire has even overtaken Edinburgh where the average is £254,552. Prices increased by 4.1% in 2017 in East Renfrewshire and by 3.9% in Edinburgh.
Only six out of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas saw prices fall in 2017, with the biggest drop in Clackmannanshire with a drop of 5.3%. Eight ended the year at a new peak average price. These were East Dunbartonshire, Highland, Shetland Islands, Renfrewshire, Dundee City, Falkirk, North Lanarkshire and Glasgow.
Glasgow accounts for a significant amount of the overall increase in average prices nationally with 9.7% growth over the year to £158,551 the city accounts for 21% of the £7,582 increase seen in Scotland.
Edinburgh accounted for 15%) Fife 8% and East Dunbartonshire, the Highlands and South Lanarkshire all contributing 7%, meaning that these six local authority areas are responsible for 65% of the increase in prices over 2017.
‘The combination of low interest rates, an unemployment rate lower than that of Britain and a number of schemes to assist buyers has contributed to ongoing demand for property,’ said Christine Campbell, Your Move managing director in Scotland.
‘The problem remains, however, that there are not enough properties coming to market to sell nor homes being built which, in turn, is driving prices up. It’s important that, in the months to come, more emphasis should be placed on building homes, particularly those that are more affordable, to ensure that the market remains active and that any potential slowdown is avoided,’ she added.
