The housing market in Johnstone is the second-fastest growing in Scotland, new figures have revealed.
The average cost of a house in the Renfrewshire town in 2022 is £245,849.
Up from an average of £197,722 in 2021, it means house prices in the area have increased by almost a quarter in one year alone.
Only Kirkcaldy, Fife saw a higher rate of growth in the past 12 months. The sharp increase in Johnstone prices was revealed as part of a report by the Bank of Scotland.
The bank’s mortgage and property experts have attributed the rise in Johnstone and other semi-rural areas to people’s desire for more green space within a location that still has easy access to the larger cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The housing report also shows house prices have increased in neighbouring Paisley.
However the seven per cent increase in the town’s accommodation represents one of the lowest rates of growth in Scotland.
According to the same report, Paisley has seen the fourth-slowest rise in the country. The average cost of a property is £181,008, up from £169,182 in 2021.
Helen Canning, estate agent at Penny Lane Homes in Johnstone, told the Paisley Daily Express the area had seen huge demand in 2022 but raised concerns about the recent hikes in mortgage rates.
“At the start of the year demand was very, very high,” she said. “Anything that was coming on the market was going within hours or days.
“The percentage people were paying over the home report value was significantly high and that was the case from flats through to houses. We had very, very good offers coming through until April.
“During the summer we started to see things level out to the home report value and in the last few months, as we have entered winter, there has been a downturn where interest in properties tends to wane as we head towards the end of the year any way.”
She added: “There are so many beautiful pockets in the Johnstone area and we are finding more and more people are turning to local agents for that local knowledge to guide them and ask those important questions.”
Helen, like the mortgage advisers at the Bank of Scotland, is starting to see the impact of the higher mortgage rates introduced at the end of this year.
She said the volatility in lending had made people “tentative” in recent months.
Graham Blair, mortgages director at the Bank of Scotland, said the increasing cost of living puts more pressure on household finances, which, together with rising interest rates, impacts mortgage affordability.
He said: “Scottish house prices have continued to rise over the last 12 months, with properties in almost every area now worth more than a year ago. During 2022 it’s not been big cities leading the way.
“Unsurprisingly, Edinburgh remains the most expensive place to buy, but its rate of property price inflation was outstripped by a number of other locations.
“This is partly due to pandemic-driven shifts in housing preferences as buyers sought bigger properties further from major urban centres.
“Looking ahead to 2023 and house price growth is expected to slow in Scotland.
“However, it’s important to remember that this follows more than two years of rapid growth. A period of adjustment was always likely, particularly given the current economic environment.”
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