The Home Improvement Index 2024
Regional Profiles: Scotland
Scotland has Britain’s lowest house prices outside of the North East. This tends to dampen the appetite for home improvement. However, in recent years its fortunes, relative to other parts of Britain, appear to have improved. From being bottom on the rankings for applications per 1,000 homes up to 2018, Scotland now ranks above both Wales and the North East.
Scotland - Change in applications by type 2022 & 2023
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It has seen stronger earnings growth over the past five years than the UK overall, despite slightly weaker economic growth since the end of 2019. House prices have risen broadly in line with the average across Britain. In the past the fortunes of the oil sector heavily influenced the home-improvement market, particularly around Aberdeen. More recently the market in the more affluent suburbs of Glasgow and Edinburgh, such as East Lothian and East Renfrewshire, has grown as has activity in more remote areas like Argyll and Bute.
Scotland - Regional Home improvement apps per 1k private homes
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Of late, Scotland has performed close to average across Britain, with applications overall falling at a similar rate from 2019 to 2023. On the energy saving measures however, it has seen less growth in insulation than elsewhere. This is understandable given the stock is likely to be more prepared and Scotland has more timber framed homes. On solar panels, however, it has seen much stronger growth.
Scotland - Average House price at Dec 2023 & annual change
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Scotland - Top 10 Districts for home improvement
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*given the impacts of the pandemic, 2023 is compared with 2019 as benchmark
Scotland - Share of regional applications involving key types in 2023
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*Note: A single application may include any number of the above key types
Scotland - Regional spending on alterations and improvement to homes over 2021 and 2022
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Source: ONS, Family expenditure survey
Caveat: The data can vary significantly year to year given sample the sizes. This is partially smoothed in our use of the data by taking an average over two years
