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Month after month, headlines on the UK’s housing market have reported signs of life. While onlookers crave a return to the days of the 2022 peaks and a time before Lizz Truss’ mini-budget, there’s at least optimism in the slow growth figures. Year-on-year, the most recent figures shown by theguardian.com showed a 3.2 per cent growth in September 2024, which offered an additional boost from the 2.4 per cent in August 2024 compared to August 2023.
It’s seen as a relatively slow rate of recovery, but that growth continues to be a good sign. However, not everywhere in the UK is experiencing the same rate of house price growth and recovery. Renfrewshire is a prime example of the differences in growth seen across the country as the Scottish council area is showing gains greater than the UK average. So, why Renfrewshire, and what’s spurring the market recovery?
Accessible options and a welcoming country
More and more, people are seeing Scotland as the more ideal part of the UK to live in. The socio-political climate and superb scenery have contributed to Scotland’s stark increase in annual net migration. As is detailed by thenational.scot, since 2010, net migration from the rest of the UK bumped from 2,909 to 8,914. The migration has also helped to ensure population growth, with it now at a record 5.4 million.
As more people move to Scotland, demand for houses increases, competition goes up, and so, house prices rise. Also helping spur people to get their idyllic Scottish home are the settling inflation and mortgage rates. A lowering of the Bank Rate to five per cent by the Bank of England in August helped to encourage banks to get more competitive with their mortgage rates. In September, insiders were optimistic about another fall to come.
Reports suggest that mortgage rates may sink to below five per cent as the housing market heats up towards the end of the year, which may be spurred by the usual uptick in interest in December compared to the lulls October and November. The newfound ease of selling a home without a chain also helps. Using platforms like https://sellhousefast.uk/ people can get a free and fast cash offer for their property. Then, knowing how much they’ll have and without needing to wait for their buyers to buy elsewhere, the sellers can quickly move up to Scotland.
Renfrewshire outpacing the UK
Per the most recent data from ONS, which was released in mid-September 2024, the average house price in Renfrewshire stood at £162,000 in July 2024. In Scotland, the average house price at that time was £199,000. Significantly, though, the house price increase showcased was 4.7 per cent year-on-year, which was well ahead of the UK average.
Naturally, helping this will be the elements mentioned above as well as the low average house prices – compared to Scotland and the rest of the UK. Houses can be relatively cheap, and people moving to Renfrewshire having formerly owned a house elsewhere in the UK can benefit from saving money from the move. More recent reports point to average house prices now being closer to £180,000, which is a 14 increase on the 2021 peak.
Such stark house price rises does come with its concerns for affordability, so the council will need to factor in a plan to ensure that houses remain available and affordable to locals. In regard to existing homeowners, though, these are positive headlines and signs of growth that will hopefully continue into next year.