 The most affordable towns for nurses are in Fife |
Nurses cannot afford to buy houses in almost two-thirds of Scottish towns, according to a report. The Bank of Scotland study said housing was becoming increasingly unaffordable for public sector workers - although Scotland was the UK's cheapest area.
The number of towns where a nurse could not afford the average house price had risen from 5% to 62% in three years.
The figure had increased from 5% to 54% for firefighters, and rose to 27% for teachers and 15% for police.
Edinburgh was the least affordable part of Scotland for every category of key worker, followed by Helensburgh, Larbert and Perth.
 | LEAST AFFORDABLE TOWNS FOR NURSES Edinburgh Helensburgh Larbert Perth Dalkieth |
The average house price in the capital was 7.6 times the average nurse's salary in 2004.
The Fife town of Lochgelly was the most affordable location in the UK, followed by neighbouring Cowdenbeath.
The study compared the average house price in each area with the average salary for the four categories of key worker.
Any town where the figure was above the earnings-to-house-price ratio for a first time buyer (4.37) was classified as unaffordable.
Rising prices
The ratio stood at 4.2 for Scotland's nurses, 4.0 for firefighters, 3.4 for teachers and 3.1 for police officers.
For the UK as a whole, the figures stood at 6.6 for nurses, 6.5 for firefighters, 5.4 for teachers and 5.1 for police officers.
The Bank of Scotland said house prices rose by 18% in Scotland in 2004.
| MOST AFFORDABLE TOWNS FOR NURSES Lochgelly Cowdenbeath Leven Peterhead Larkhall |
Its chief economist, Martin Ellis, said: "Lack of affordable housing was previously a London phenomenon but has now become an issue across the UK.
"Scotland is seeing the impact of the rapid rise in house prices over the past two years, with there now being far fewer parts of Scotland where nurses and teachers can easily get on the first rung of the housing ladder.
"The current government-sponsored key worker schemes are weighted heavily towards London and the south east.
"There is now a strong case for the government to significantly extend the reach and impact of these schemes outside the south of England."
Pat Dawson from the Royal College of Nursing said: "We know we have vacancies, certainly in the big hospitals and certainly in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
"Those areas were mostly unaffordable for nurses, we need to retain, but more importantly recruit, in those areas.
"With housing as it is just now we're not going to be able to attract nurses into those areas."
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