Scotland towns register highest house price rise

Scotland towns register highest house price rise

	Published : Mon, 26 Dec 2005 08:05 By : James Rowe Print this Story

LONDON: Two towns in Scotland -- Alexandria in West Dubartonshire and Coatbridge in North Lanarkshire -- have seen the highest increase in house prices -- 35 per cent -- in Britain in 2005.

A survey by Bank of Scotland also brought out four Fife towns -- Cupar and Lochgelly (both 31 per cent), Glenrothes (28 per cent) and Leven (26 per cent) -- among the 20 towns with the biggest price rises in the country. Peterhead in Aberdeenshire (25 per cent), Irvine in Ayrshire (24 per cent ) and Aberdeen (21 per cent) were the other Scottish towns making the list, along with Wishaw and Airdrie in North Lanarkshire, Larkhall in South Lanarkshire and Oban in Argyll, where the price increase was more than 15 per cent.

The average price in Alexandria, a town of 4000 people, increased from 98,500 pounds to 133,000 pounds. It is a result of the ripple effect from growth in the surrounding areas, the bank said. Coatbridge, a key commuter town for Glasgow, had the average price going up from 87,500 pounds to 118,000 pounds,

The survey, the data for which is sourced to the Halifax House Price Index, identified Edinburgh as the most expensive place in Scotland to buy a home. The average price was 180,303 pounds, an increase of 2 per cent compared with 2004.

An interesting aspect put forth by the study is that Scotland in general remained the least expensive place in Britain for homebuyers. In spite of substantial price increases, Lochgelly is identified as the least expensive town in the whole of U.K. to buy a house, the average house price there being 81,131 pounds. Four other towns, Kelty, Clydebank, Greenock and Larkhall, had average prices below 100,000 pounds.

The bank's chief economist Martin Ellis said 2005 is Scotland's year with nine towns delivering biggest price increases. He added, "House price growth in Scotland continues to outpace the U.K. average and this trend is expected to continue into 2006. Despite the recent increases, Scotland is the most affordable part of the U.K."

Other towns that made the list of 20 are Wednesbury in the West Midlands, Holyhead in Wales and Downpatrick in Northern Ireland.

Gerrards Cross in southeastern England is the most expensive for homes, according to the bank, with an average house price of above 600,000 pounds. Three towns -- Weybridge, Henley on Thames and Richmond upon Thames -- have an average price above 500,000 pounds.

The study revealed that the number of towns where the average house prices were below 100,000 fell to 11 during the year from 38 in 2004, pointing out that houses have become less affordable to many.

At the national level, house prices increased by just 3 per cent, after five years of double-digit growth.