New research from Bank of Scotland shows that Edinburgh is the most expensive property location on a per square metre basis at £2,492 compared to the Scottish average of £1,529. Edinburgh is the only town in Scotland to have an average house price per square metre higher than the British average of £2,260.
The report also shows that there has been a substantial rise in property prices per square metre between southern England and the rest of Britain over the past 20 years. House prices per square metre have risen by 402% in Greater London and 208% in Edinburgh compared with the increase of 147% across the whole of Scotland.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Why? Free to subscribe, no paywall, daily business news digest.
Graham Blair, mortgages director, Bank of Scotland, said: “House price per square metre can be a useful measure for house price comparison as it helps to adjust for differences in the size and type of properties between locations.
“Edinburgh and the east coast are more expensive than western and central areas, however we can see a number of notable pockets emerging in the Highlands. There is a clear gap between southern England, particularly London, and the rest of Britain over the past 20 years – a trend that has continued during the last five years.”
Seven of the 10 most expensive towns are on the eastern side of Scotland, with Inverness in the Highlands (£1,636), Glasgow (£1,578) and Johnstone (£1,436) making up the rest.
Unsurprisingly, Edinburgh is Scotland’s most expensive area which tripled (208%) its house price per square metre from £808 to £2,492 in the past twenty years. Aberdeen (£2,029 per m2) is the next most expensive area and then Inverurie (£1,884 per m2). Seven areas have an average price above the Scottish average of £1,529 per m2.
Wishaw in North Lanarkshire is the least expensive town with an average price at £1,027 per m², followed by Glenrothes in Fife (£1,065).
Eight of the 10 towns with the lowest prices per square metre are either in central or western Scotland. In addition to Wishaw in central Scotland, these are: Larkhall (£1,071), Irvine (£1,075) and Airdrie (£1,089). In Western Scotland: Grennock (£1,128), Alexandria (1,140), Dumfries (£1,150) and Kilmarnock (£1,158). The two eastern towns with the lowest house prices on a per square metre basis are Glenrothes (£1,065) and Leven (£1,109) both in Fife.
Dunfermline in Fife has seen the highest house price growth on a per square metre basis over the last five years from £1,185 per metre square in 2012 to £1,416 in 2017 (20%), closely followed by Dalkeith (19%), Motherwell (18%), Glasgow (18%) and Alloa (18%).
In Scotland, house prices per square metre have risen by 12% since 2012 from an average of £1,365 to £1,529 in 2017.
