House price falls 'aid' key staff

Property value falls have made homes more affordable for key workers

Research by the Bank of Scotland has found that recent falls in property values could be a good thing for key public sector workers.

It claimed workers such as teachers and police officers could now afford to buy in 39% of Scottish towns.

The same bank survey in 2007 said key public servants were priced out of all but 15% of towns.

Nurses and firefighters were the key worker groups with the most affordability problems, the bank said.

The average house in only 11% of towns across the Scotland is classed as affordable for these groups, according to the survey.

The most affordable town was said to be Grangemouth, with a house price to earnings ratio of 2.7, followed by Bellshill in Lanarkshire (3.0).

Inverurie in Aberdeenshire was the least affordable town for Scottish key workers, with a ratio of 6.8, followed by Linlithgow and Tranent in East Lothian.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Bank of Scotland, said: "There has been an improvement in housing affordability for key public sector workers across many parts of the UK since house prices reached a peak in 2007.

"A quarter of Scottish towns have become affordable for the average key worker since then due to a combination of lower house prices and increased earnings.

"Despite this improvement only 11% towns across Scotland are affordable for all key worker groups."

The survey said Scotland was one of the most affordable areas in the UK.