Bank of Scotland’s annual Affordable Cities Review reveals the rise in house prices in the past year has resulted in the third successive annual decline in affordability in Scotland’s seven official cities – Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling, Inverness and Perth.
The picture that emerges shows Edinburgh to be the least affordable city; its average house price of £220,099 is 6.12 times the gross average earnings, while Stirling is the most affordable city (and the second most affordable in the UK) with its average property price of £165,658 being 4.11 times the gross average annual earnings. Glasgow ranks as the second most affordable city.
Responding to the banks findings, Nicola Barclay, chief executive of house building industry body Homes for Scotland, comments: “The single most effective way to address concerns on housing needs and affordability is to increase the supply of new homes of all tenures.” Homes for Scotland is calling on the next Scottish Government to manage a return to pre-recession build levels of at least 25,000 homes per year.
Source: heraldscotland