House prices soar by £22,000 in one year

Homes earned £800 a week – more than owners!

SCOTTISH house prices have rocketed by an average of more than £22,000 over the past year, amid a rush for properties.

Figures show a home’s average cost leapt almost 15 per cent in 12 months – more than at any time since official record-keeping began 17 years ago.

With a 2 per cent rise just from June to July, the average home owner then made around £800 a week from their property.

By comparison, the average weekly pay in Scotland is £593, according to the Scottish parliament.

Scotland’s average house price in July of £177,166 was 14.6 per cent – or £22,584 – higher than 12 months previously.

However, the overall UK trend saw prices tumbling by £10,000 from June to July as the winding down of the stamp duty holiday south of the Border slammed the brakes on the market.

A typical UK home cost £255,535 in July, compared with £265,448 the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Figures from Registers of Scotland show that in May the number of Scottish property transactions shot up by 171.6 per cent – compared with 2.3 per cent in England, 13.7 per cent in Wales and 41.8 per cent in Northern Ireland.

Scots-based chartered surveyors Walker, Fraser Steele said cheaper property prices north of the Border are attracting people from London able to cash in on their more expensive home.

A spokesman said: ‘One tends to get more “bang for one’s buck” in Scotland than in England. For example, the recent purchase of a £1million home in the Borders included five bedrooms, 2.8 acres of garden grounds and five acres of grazing paddock.

‘In London, £1million will, in some boroughs, enable you to purchase a three-bedroomed Victorian terrace, with minimal garden space.’

Price rises were seen in each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities over the year. Inverclyde recorded a 29 per cent leap, taking the average cost of a house in the area from £92,393 to £119,168.

Edinburgh remains Scotland’s most expensive place to buy a property at an average of £309,227. Yet the capital’s 8.4 per cent rise on the year was eclipsed by Glasgow’s 14.3 per cent increase.

Registers of Scotland business development director Kenny Crawford said: ‘Property prices continued their trend upwards in July. The average price of a property in Scotland of £177,166 is the highest reported for any month since January 2004, from when Scottish data for the UK house price index was first available.’

Faisal Choudhry, head of residential research at estate agent Savills Scotland, said: ‘Scotland’s housing market is certainly experiencing an extraordinary period.’

He added: ‘There are currently three times more buyers than available properties, compared to the pre-pandemic norm.’