Scots house prices forecast to rise 5% in 2022

Scottish house price growth is expected to slow next year but will remain higher than most parts of the UK, according to a report.

House prices have risen strongly in Scotland so far this year and are expected to continue to increase next year, albeit at a slower pace.

Analysis by estate agency group Hamptons forecasts house prices in Scotland will grow by 5 per cent in 2022, down from the 7 per cent it expects in 2021.

However, the 2022 figure will be higher than that predicted for other areas such as London and the south east of England which are expected to see gains of 1 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively.

Over the four years from 2020-24, Hamptons expects Scottish house prices to rise by 20 per cent compared to the UK average of 13.5 per cent. The north east of England is predicted to see the highest growth over that period with a rise of 21.5 per cent.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said the housing market has confounded expectations and forecasts in recent months but she believes summer 2021 marked peak house price growth with a slowdown likely for the rest of the year.

“Back in the autumn of 2020, such were the economic challenges being faced that we could not have envisaged the extraordinary demand for relocation which we have seen this year,” she said. But there has been a huge attitudinal change towards property, which cannot be attributed to the stamp duty holiday alone.

“People now place a higher value on their homes, having have spent more time in them than ever before. Flexible and remote working, which look set to continue, have encouraged households to make bigger moves. As a result, more homes are likely to have been sold in 2021 than in any year since 2007. This is why we also think housing activity will surpass pre-pandemic times in 2022 and beyond.”

Beveridge said the pandemic has accelerated the closing of the house price gap between London and the rest of the country.

A record-breaking first half of the year means that more homes will have sold in 2021 than in any year since 2007. Hamptons forecasts there will be 1.5 million completions across the country this year.

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