UK House Prices: Soaring Demand for Scottish Homes Leads to Surveyor Workload Surge

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors revealed that the shortage of homes across the UK, leading to unprecedented demand from Britons, caused a surge in Scottish surveyors' workloads over the last quarter.

According to Rics, a net balance of 22% of surveyors reported construction activity growth, while those in Scotland saw a surge of 27%.

"Unprecedented housing demand and the bounce back from a very deep recession are translating into prominent growth in workloads throughout Scotland," said Rics Scotland director Sarah Speirs.

"With a lack of housing supply identified in the recent Scottish Housing Commission reports, it is encouraging to see a growth in construction activity across housing sectors.

"Of course factors impacting construction activity, such as skill shortages and material shortages, must be addressed if we are to avoid capacity constraints, but it is equally important that the underlying framework for effective planning and delivery of projects is in place to ensure long-term construction growth that is evenly spread across the country."

According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), 240,000 new homes need to be built per year to sate current levels of demand, but over 200,000 homes have been delivered in only four out of the last 14 years.

In 2010, fewer houses were built than in any year since the Second World War.

The chronic shortage of supply and increasing demand has meant house prices, on average, have rocketed by 56% nationally since 2004, with a 90% increase in London.

The Rics survey shows that the biggest limiting factor for UK house building is the lack of staff as demand for bricklayers grew significantly on the previous quarter.