House prices: 'I can't see myself owning a home before I'm 60'
Forecasters predict house prices in Scotland will rise by a quarter over the next five years
A house price growth forecast predicts the cost of buying a home om Scotland will increase by a quarter over the next five years.
Across Britain, property values are expected to have increased by just over a fifth (21.6%) on average by the end of 2028, revised from a previous forecast of 17.9%, Savills said.
The revised forecast could mean the average UK house price grows by £61,500, from £285,000 in 2023 to £346,500 by 2028.
The property firm expects house prices to grow by 2.5% typically during 2024, rather than an expected 3.0% drop which was predicted by the company in early November 2023.
Savills cautioned that the market remains sensitive to short-term fluctuations in the cost of debt and political uncertainty in the run-up to the general election.
Savills used Oxford Economics and Nationwide Building Society data as part of its research. Its calculations were based on the second hand property market, so new build property values could perform differently.
'We're at the mercy of the market'
For first-time buyers in Scotland, the prediction makes the prospect of home ownership feel like a 'distant dream'.
Iris Duane is a renter in Glasgow who said: "This is very disappointing but it's not surprising at all.
"We're called generation-rent for a reason, I can't see myself ever owning my own home due to pressures such as this.
"I genuinely can't imagine myself owning a house before the age of 60, probably, and even if I owned one then, that'd be very impressive to me.
"It's going to affect those at the bottom disproportionately at the end of the day, because rent and unsustainability is going to go up as well.
"On top of that, we don't have enough social housing to provide for people so it leaves us in a stuck situation where we're at the mercy of the market."
'We know it's an expensive time for people'
Emma Jackson from Citizens Advice Scotland said: "We know that right now it remains a really expensive time for people.
"Yes, inflation is coming down, but food, fuel, everything really, still costs more than it did this time last year.
"With house prices likely to increase, the prospect of owning your own home remains far out of reach for thousands.
"It's a really difficult time across the whole housing sector with demand for both rental and social homes also sky high.
"With rents increasing after the end of the temporary rent-cap, saving for a deposit for your own home feels impossible."