Property price inflation spreads across Scotland and the UK generally

Once upon a time a property that would have cost a "King's Ransom" in more affluent parts of the country could be had for "A bag of sweeties" in certain parts of Scotland, the north of England or south-west England. People wishing to exile themselves from the hustle and bustle (aka 'stress') of life in the big cities, specially of the south-east of England around London, could buy more or less what they wanted in the tranquil parts of the country, with loads of cash to spare. Not that I object to this in principle - it is simply free-market economics in operation, something I favour strongly. However, those wishing to move in the other direction didn't have the same opportunities. Usually the wish to move was prompted by better job possibilities in places such as London, Manchester or Edinburgh, but the huge property-price differentials made it very difficult for new 'immigrants' from the rural areas and provincial towns to gain a property foothold in bigger cities.

Over the past year or eighteen months, however, the prices being asked (and achieved) for properties in and around Inverness, for example, have increased much more rapidly than has ever been the case in the past, even if the bulk of the high-price properties, i.e in excess of a million pounds are generally-speaking, so far as Scotland is concerned, in places convenient for Edinburgh or Glasgow, the price inflation in the former much boosted, of course, by the circus that is the Scottish Parliament and its Scottish Executive. In countries like Germany, where many people rent their homes, labour movement has always been much easier; in a country such as the UK, where proporty-owning is the norm, this aids labour flexibility.