House prices rise near Scottish football grounds

This represents an average increase of £18,285 during the past decade; from £134,518 in 2008 to £152,803 in 2018.

However, it is still considerably cheaper to buy a home near to a Premiership football stadium than in the rest of Scotland.

As well as the benefit to avid football fans of living close to their team’s ground, house prices near Scottish Premiership stadiums are substantially lower than the rest of the country. Homebuyers can bag themselves a home near to one of the Premiership grounds for £152,803 on average, which is 13% below house prices across the rest of Scotland (£175,866).

Despite being lower than the national average, house prices near football stadiums are on the rise. The 14% increase over the last decade is significant as house prices across Scotland as a whole since 2008 have fallen by 1% (£2,542).

Graham Blair, mortgages director at Bank of Scotland, said: “Living next to a Scottish Premiership ground will always hold appeal for loyal fans. However some supporters will need to fork out more than others to live near their team’s home ground. For example, Hibs fans will need considerably more than Celtic or Rangers fans for a home where they can hear the match day buzz.

“Football will always be well loved in Scotland, and given that house price rises near some of our Premiership stadiums have far outstripped house prices in the rest of the country, it seems that those who live near the stadiums at the moment could be in luck if they ever decided to move home.”

Properties close to Fir Park (Motherwell), Hope CBD Stadium (Hamilton Academical) and Easter Road (Hibernian) have seen the biggest hike in the value over the past decade, with all having seen increases of 23%. The average home value in these postal districts has risen by £28,069, £26,479 and £40,897 respectively since 2008.

Areas around Tynecastle, home to Hibs rivals Heart of Midlothian, have seen the next biggest increase with a rise in average property prices of 17% (from £154,054 to £179,718). Homes near to the Tony Macaroni Arena (Livingston), McDiarmid Park (St Johnstone) and Rugby Park (Kilmarnock) have all seen prices rises over the last ten years.

In a change of fortunes, both members of the famous ‘Old Firm’, Celtic and Rangers, have finished in the bottom three of the Scottish Premiership house price table along with newly promoted St Mirren. The Buddies have seen a 14% drop in surrounding house prices since 2008, bringing the average cost of a home near St Mirren Park to £86,607. The Glasgow rivals have also seen a drop in nearby house prices with properties near Celtic park dropping by 14% to £97,810 and properties near Ibrox falling by 8% to £88,572 in the past decade. These three stadiums are the only Premiership grounds in Scotland where average house prices are under £100,000.

The postal district covering Hibernian (EH7) is the most expensive area to live in with an average house price of £218,724. This is more than double the average price in the least expensive Scottish Premiership postal district of PA3, home to St Mirren, where the average house price is £86,607.

Ten year % change in house prices in postal districts of the 20 Premier league team stadia for the 2018/19 season. Note that although St Mirren Park moved location in 2009, the stadium’s current location has been used for all data from 2008 to 2018.

The average house price close to a Scottish Premiership ground is £152,803 – 4.4 times higher than national average gross annual earnings. This is below the Scottish average of 5.1.