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Record House Prices Surge

 © The Herald
Originally published: 19.01.2007

Scotland and Wales have had the biggest surge in house prices over the past five years, according to figures published yesterday by the Bank of Scotland.

It found that the 10 unitary authorities or counties with the highest record of growth were in Scotland and Wales, while nine out of 10 counties with the smallest price gains were in southern England.

The hike has helped push the average price for a home in every area of the UK above £100,000 for the first time. In 2001, nearly two-thirds of counties or unitary authorities had average house prices below £100,000, according to HBoS, which owns BoS and Halifax.

The strongest inflation in house prices in Scotland was recorded in Clackmannanshire, where the average cost of a home shot up from £58,634 in 2001 to £137,683 last year. In Ayrshire, Dundee, Moray and North Lanarkshire prices shot up by more than 120%.

They were among 18 Scottish authorities in which house prices more than doubled, including Angus, Fife and Aberdeenshire. In Glasgow, the cost of buying a property was £138,237 last year compared to £68,712 in 2001.

A further 11 council areas saw smaller increases. The lowest rises were recorded in East Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire, where house prices rose from £104,386 to £181,380 and £111,746 to £191,596 respectively. In Edinburgh, average house prices rose by 85% over the last half-decade, to stand at £202,545 last year.