Soaring Edinburgh property prices are the highest in Scotland

A single square metre of the average property in Edinburgh is now worth almost £2,500, making the city by far the most expensive place to live in Scotland, according to data published today.

Property prices have soared

House values in the Scottish capital have tripled from £808 per square metre in 1997 to £2,492 today, with the average property now worth £236,371, the research by the Bank of Scotland found.

Edinburgh is also the only city or town north of the Border where house prices are higher than the British average of £2,260 per square metre, the study shows.

Despite the recent slump in the oil and gas industry, Aberdeen is still the second most expensive area for property in Scotland with an average price of £2,029 per square metre.

They were closely followed by the smaller towns of Inverurie and Dalkeith, which are both located within easy reach of the two cities, making them popular with commuters.

To come up with the figures, which do not take into account external space, researchers at the bank studied house price movements in 329 towns and cities across the UK over the past 20 years.

The 37 Scottish locations on the list revealed a geographic divide, with seven of the top ten most expensive places found near the east coast.

By contrast, eight of the ten places with the lowest prices per square metre were found in central or western Scotland.

Wishaw in North Lanarkshire was the cheapest of all, with an average property price of £1,027 per square metre. Larkhall, Irvine, Airdrie, Dumfries and Kilmarnock were also in the bottom ten.

Dunfermline has had the largest growth in price per square metre in Scotland over the past five years, rising by about a fifth from £1,185 in 2012 to £1,416 now.

“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,” said Graham Blair, the bank’s mortgages director.

“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.”

As a whole, Scotland is still one of the most affordable places in Britain to buy a house.