A pretty little town in southwest Scotland is in one of the cheapest areas to buy a home in the UK.
Newton Stewart is in Dumfries and Galloway, which has been named the second most affordable place to buy property in the UK.
In the Scottish county, the average house price is £180,893, just 3.2 times the average wage in the area, according to Halifax’s report on affordable cities from November 2023.
The small town has an even lower average house price, at £164,204 according to Rightmove and £161,657 according to Zoopla.
Newton Stewart sits on the River Cree and has a population of just over 4,000. There are a handful of schools, two supermarkets, a cinema and a swimming pool.
The town has lots of independent delis, restaurants and activities to enjoy on its pretty stone building-lined high street.
It also sits next to Galloway Forest Park, a 40-mile Dark Sky park with mountains, lochs and wildlife. In the surrounding area are a number of villages and towns to explore.
Billy McHarg, a property manager at A B & A Matthews, an estate agent in Newton Stewart, said: “People often say that they were unaware of the area before they came here. Some have holidayed in Scotland for years and tended to head north, ignoring the southwest of Scotland.
“Although property prices are generally cheaper than other areas of the UK it is not the main reason people come to the area. Covid has made people think about their lifestyle. Quality of life became more important than a high salary.
“There has been a huge increase in people working from home and they could sell a two-bed in London, buy a four-bed with a large garden in Dumfries & Galloway and still have money left.
“We find that buyers from England, who need to sell their property to buy in Scotland, are taking longer to find a buyer due to higher interest rates.
“Locals are very friendly and are happy to accept new people moving to the area. I don’t think Dumfries and Galloway being a cheap place to buy will have a harmful effect as long as incoming buyers accept us for what we are and don’t try to change things.”
ESPC, a Scottish property portal, has found that the volume of property sales in Dumfries and Galloway increased 12.6 percent in March to August 2023, compared to the previous year.
CEO Paul Hilton said: “Dumfries and Galloway has grown increasingly attractive to buyers in the post-Covid years, we’ve seen increasing demand for properties in rural and coastal areas.
“It being named a cheap place to buy may bring the area attention but this is no bad thing in itself. Turnover of property is very good for the local economy, bringing more to local tradespeople and local businesses.
“Likewise, if it attracts visitors who want to assess Dumfries and Galloway as a future retirement location, or as a place to buy their first home, that again can only be a positive thing for local businesses.
“Dumfries and Galloway offers an affordable alternative to other rural or coastal locations, alongside highly-rated schooling and amenities, which makes it an attractive option for a broad range of buyers at different stages of life.”
Also among the areas in the UK where it is cheapest to buy a home are Burnley in Lancashire, North Lanarkshire in Scotland, Hull in Yorkshire and Dundee in Scotland.
The cheapest place in the UK to buy a home is Inverclyde in west Scotland, where the average home is just 2.9 times the price of the average wage.
