High demand in Scotland's suburbs predictedHigh demand in Scotland's suburbs predicted
A lack of supply in "good quality city suburbs" in Scotland will push up house prices this year at a time when the national trend is pointing towards slow growth, according to a firm of chartered surveyors.
Allied Surveyors said that Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh are some of the cities where the Scottish government has failed to provide sufficient land for construction and prices are likely to rise as a result as people fight for available homes.
Grant Robertson, a director of Allied Surveyors, was speaking after Halifax named Lochgelly, Paisley, Greenock and Aberdeen as areas predicted to see the highest house price growth this year.
"Aberdeen is a good example of somewhere where there are long-term plans to release land for housing development, but at the moment there's almost no new housing available," he stated.
"Glasgow and Edinburgh will see the suburbs and traditional housing areas - like Glasgow's west end - tend to continue to perform quite well."
Nationwide Building Society claims that Aberdeen saw the second-highest rate of house price growth in 2007, behind Belfast but ahead of London.