Leader comment: Soaring house prices risk pricing out generation from Edinburgh

Depending on where you sit, the news that Edinburgh’s house prices are set to soar by 16.5 per cent in the next five years is either heartening or incredibly depressing.

And for many, it will be the latter.

Much has been written about how unaffordable Edinburgh is becoming, particularly for key workers.

Getting a foot on the housing ladder is frankly impossible for many who are instead driven out of the city or from the area altogether.

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And it’s not just buying a home which is fast becoming an unachievable aspiration for many.

Supply and demand dictates that the cost of renting also continues to soar. So it’s great news for landlords and property owners, not so much for everyone else.

Edinburgh is not alone in facing this situation but, as the capital, the city has a particularly acute and deepening problem.

Today’s statistics should again focus minds on finding a solution to the critical lack of affordable housing.

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The answer is obviously to accelerate the building of such homes and fast, and that’s not easy to do while also balancing planning concerns and the commercial interests of housebuilders. But do it we must if we are to avoid pricing a whole generation out of Edinburgh.