SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

[JRR]

HI EVERYONE DOSE ANYONE KNOW WHY ARE THE HOUSE PRICES SO EXPENSIVE IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS. I WOULD LOVE TO LIVE THERE MANY THANKS.🙏

Why are you shouting?

Ha ha just realised

The Scottish Highlands cover a huge area (the size of Belgium) and not everywhere is expensive.

House prices in desirable, tourist destinations are high because cash buyers out bid locals for properties to use as second homes.

If you are from England you would need to educate yourself in the Scottish property buying system. Many properties are advertised at 'offers over' a price and usually sell for up to 20% over that price, depending on location.

Hi thank you so much for your reply I have seen this offer over also you have to pay stamp duty on top do you anything about Wick many thanks.

House prices in desirable, tourist destinations are high because cash buyers out bid locals for properties to use as second homes.

Aah highlanders being pushed out of their area by "non-locals".

Reminds me of something I learnt in history...

Yep but unfortunately true.

BECAUSE PEOPLE WANT TO LIVE THERE AND DEMAND RAISES PRICES

Stamp duty is not unique to Wick

Plenty cheap places too but obviously you get what you pay for. If you want a one bed on a 1980s estate vs scenic hunting lodge with land.

i just looked up wick. 3 bed flat o/o £50k. 2 bed house £100k.

You’d have to really want to live there. Too far nothing/isolated for me.

As a pp said the Highlands are massive and incredibly varied. Why do you want to live here? Which area? What do you do for work and do you have a car or will you be replying on public transport? Have you been before?

Inverness is expensive as lots of English people and Air B&B owners buy here as the lifestyle is nice. It’s generally safe, welcoming, has lovely beaches within 10 minutes drive, large open spaces, nice woodland walks and is out the edges of the Cairngorms. I have never had issues gaining employment and the schools are good. Shops are pretty poor and pubs are expensive. Tourist season can make the place really busy. There are a lot of part buys being built but many are for locals as these people are being driven out.

I live in Wick. What do you want to know?

I meant to say too far north. Not nothing.

my issue is that even if you like where you are it’s so far to anywhere else. I used to say I’d like Inverness more if they could just move it to Perth when I lived there.

You could try Dingwall?

It’s a vast area that includes tourist areas, commuter belt to Inverness, also areas where people live and travel for two-on-two-off to Aberdeen for offshore work so these areas will have slightly inflated house prices. You have other areas which are really quite deprived and isolated on top of that but do have stunning countryside outside the town. Really depends what your after.

It's very expensive because huge amounts of people want to move to the Highlands! Simply supply and demand. Have you visited?

Given this is the third thread you have started about areas from Dumfries and Galloway to Wick, it suggests you don't really have a clue about the distances involved and are simply looking at house prices.

In Scotland the advertised price isn't necessarily what you can expect to pay but this varies massively by area.

What are you trying to achieve? Saying 'the Highlands' means very different things.

What do you want in terms of employment and connectivity? Do you understand how long it takes to get from wick to Aberdeen for example ? Over 4 hours

@JRR if you can tell us your budget, what you are looking for in a property - number of bedrooms, flat or house, garden etc, what kind of place you'd like to live - coastal, rural, town centre, your requirements for schools or hobbies, new build v character, then the knowledgeable posters on these threads might be able to suggest some potential locations / properties for you.

Wick is very different to Dumfries.

House price rises are not a certainly, wherever you live.

Dingwall is a dark little hole with a Tesco and not much more.... not sure why anyone would want to live there. Sorry if that's your town! 😬

Oooh fighting talk! 😂

It’s bad enough having those from the south east running down our country thinking it’s a “hole” without fellow Scots doing it.

There are many of us live in these rural and remote spots delighted with it - and if anyone thinks Dingwall or Wick are “rough”, they’ve not been to Easterhouse or Bootle or Bermondsey lately…

I remember watching a documentary years ago about “moving to the highlands” (might’ve been Ben Fogle?) - and I think it was Wick or Dingwall.

He asked the teens if there was any trouble and what they did for fun.

the lads started giggling and one said something along the lines of “a tourist asked which way it was to X, and I told him the opposite way” (giggle giggle) and the other said “sometimes we chap the door and run away.

Hardly high-octane headline-making crime.

I thought it was wonderful actually - and so innocent. That the naughtiest thing they’d done was deliberately given a tourist the wrong directions.

There’s more to life than having east access to M&S - and many would be a lot happier with their lives if they realised that.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85881477

I moved to Skye last year and I love it! Super friendly and we are integrating into the community.
You've posted few locations. Better to narrow it down as properties are scarce.
Locals are struggling, if you do buy please make it your primary residence and contribute to the community.