A Snapshot of the Property Market in Scotland
Scotland was hit hard when property prices crashed during the Credit Crunch of 2008 – and they have been relatively slow to recover since. According to a report from the BBC, house prices in Scotland were expected to rise by five percent in 2015. Research by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has revealed that a shortage of housing across Scotland is simply failing to meet demand – and house price growth over the course of at least the next five years is likely as a result.
During the three months to June 2015, house prices in Scotland rose by 3.5 percent, and the Official Registers of Scotland revealed that the average house price in the country was more than £167,000.
While property value growth has been recorded in most areas of Scotland during 2015, house price increases were at their highest in the City of Edinburgh. Scotland’s capital experienced house price growth of 4.4 percent during the second quarter of 2015 – taking the average price of a residential property in the city to £237,000.
The house price picture in the Scottish regions is something of a mixed bag, however. The largest drop in average house prices during 2015 was recorded in East Renfrewshire, where a drop of seven percent took the average property value to £216,565. Other areas to experience house price falls during 2015 include Angus, Inverclyde and the Orkney Isles. The highest percentage increase was in West Dunbartonshire, where house prices rose by more than 10 percent to £120,822.
After several years of unprecedented growth, it seems that the Aberdeen housing market has reached its peak. A slow-down in gas production and record-low oil prices have led to widespread redundancies in Aberdeenshire – an area that relies heavily on North Sea Gas and oil for prosperity. The number of house sales decreased by a massive 18 percent in 2015 – demonstrating just how much Aberdeen’s economy relies on the health of the energy market.
Figures released by Registers of Scotland have revealed that Glasgow is one of the UK’s most promising property hotspots – at least in percentage terms. The number of house sales in Scotland’s largest city increased by more than 17 percent between the second quarter of 2014 and the second quarter of 2015.
Houses for sale in Glasgow are in exceptionally high demand, which is why the average price of a home in the city has gone from £129,000 in June 2014 to £138,000 in June 2015 – a rise of more than seven percent. But wages in Scotland lag well behind those in England, so the scale of future house price growth in the likes of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen will probably be limited in comparison.
