Shetland and the Western Isles are among the UK’s top areas for falling unemployment and rising house prices, according to new research. The average house price in the Shetland Islands – home to the world famous Up-Helly-Aa festival – has more than doubled (104%) in the past decade to £153,782, the Bank of Scotland said.
The London borough of Hackney recorded an 84% rise in house prices, followed by Southwark in south-east London and the Western Isles which each saw a 78% increase.
The London boroughs of Lambeth and Tower Hamlets took fourth and fifth spots with rises of 76% and 72% respectively. The bank research looked at house price performance in the 10 areas with the smallest rises in the claimant count unemployment rate over the past 10 years.
Each of the areas studied has experienced a fall in the unemployment rate by between 1.1% and 1.8% since 2004.
They outperformed the rest of the UK, with average property prices growing by 22% over the same period, and a recorded unemployment rate 0.5% higher.
Nitesh Patel, a housing economist at Bank of Scotland, said: “In general, house price growth over the past decade has been stronger in areas that have seen the biggest falls in unemployment as measured by the claimant count.
“Areas in northern Scotland and inner London have generally outperformed other areas on both house price performance and a lower unemployment rate.
“During the recession of 2008-09, property values fell across most areas, even where unemployment rose only marginally.
“This does highlight that while unemployment is important there are also other factors that drive house prices, such as affordability, earnings growth and low housing supply which will have contributed to rising prices in the earlier year.”