Which Scottish town has the '˜cheapest homes' in the UK?

Airdrie, Lanark, Coatbridge and Kilmarnock are among the best value for homes in terms of size. Picture: John Devlin

Lanark, Coatbridge and Kilmarnock are also in the top 10 cheapest places in the UK for prices per square metre, according to Halifax bank.

Buyers are getting 11 metres of property space in these towns for the price of just one metre in posh suburbs of London, such as Kensington and Chelsea.

Airdrie has the lowest typical property price per square metre at £1,019 in the whole of the UK.

Lanark is fourth at £1,040, Coatbridge ninth at £1,071 and Kilmarnock in 10th place at £1,120.

They fall well below the average home price, which now costs £2,216 per square metre.

However, in some parts of London buyers are facing paying over £11,000 for the same size.

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Outside southern England, Edinburgh comes fourth as the most expensive, at £2,355 per square metre, with oil capital Aberdeen not far behind in sixth, at £2,191.

Joining Airdrie at the less expensive end of the property market, Llanelli and Neath in Wales, have average house prices per square metre at around the £1,000 mark.

A total of 17 areas in Greater London have an average price in excess of £5,000 per square metre.

The report found that house prices per square metre have risen from £631 to £2,216 since the research began 20 years ago.

Property prices per square metre have risen by 432 per cent in Greater London against a national average increase of 251 per cent over the past two decades, according to the new research from Halifax.

There has been a substantial gap widening in property prices per square metre between southern England and the rest of Britain over the past 20 years.

This has continued since 2011 with London gains nearly double that of the rest of the country.

Chris Gowland, Mortgages Director, Halifax, said: “House price per square metre can be a useful comparison measure as it helps to adjust for differences in the size and type of properties between locations.

“We have seen the average price per square metre increase by 251 per cent over the past 20 years from £631 in 1996 to £2,216 in 2016, although this national figure does conceal considerable regional differences.

“In particular, there has been a marked widening in the North/South property divide over the past two decades as prices per square metre have risen by 432 per cent over this period in Greater London – more than twice the increase in areas outside of southern England.

“The consistent gap between southern England –led by London – and the rest of the country over the past two decades – is a trend that has embedded itself throughout the last five years.”

The 10 least expensive towns in the UK (average price of homes per square metre of floorspace)

1. Airdrie, £1,109

2. Llanelli, £1,028 

3. Scunthorpe, £1,036

4. Lanark, £1,040

5. Accrington, £1,055 

6. Hartlepool, £1,062

7. Neath, £1,065 

8. Wallasey, £1,067

9. Coatbridge, £1,071

10. Kilmarnock, £1,120

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