Surreal Giffnock house price increases are latest sign of rising inequality – Scotsman comment

According to one property firm, prices for detached homes in Giffnock, a commuter suburb just south of Glasgow, went up by £2,500 a day between January and February this year.

Stone-built homes like this one in Giffnock saw values soar in February

While we would not wish for a moment to question Giffnock’s charms, that does seem to be overly steep, to the point of being surreal.

It is yet another story about soaring house prices that may induce a chuckle from homeowners who may be quite content that the bricks and mortar in which they live is earning more than they are, just by sitting there.

However those same people may well quickly pause to think of family and friends for whom the homeowning dream is becoming ever more distant, as high rents limit the ability to save for a deposit.

The struggle to get on the housing ladder for people in their 20s and 30s was already a persistent societal theme even before the current cost-of-living crisis began. And while demand for housing continues to outstrip supply, prices will keep on rising and inequality will increase.

Given the primary function of a house is to be a home, rather than an investment, such a boom is not a sign of market success, but market failure.

And if the market is not functioning in a way that allows everyone in Scotland to have a reasonably affordable place to live, whether buying or renting, then it is broken and in need of fixing.

How best to do that – the simplest solution is to build more houses but there are other subtler steps – is a political question that looks set to continue to grow in importance.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.