HOUSE prices are continuing to rocket as demand outstrips supply, property experts have said.

Latest figures from the UK House Price Index reveal a significant rise in average prices in both Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, highlighting that the ongoing property boom shows no sign of slowing down.

The average value of a home in Renfrewshire in December was £148,861 –up by more than £13,000 compared to a year earlier, with a rise of almost 10% recorded.

And prices have climbed even more steeply in East Renfrewshire, where the average value was £273,408 – an increase of more than £26,000 (almost 11%) in the space of 12 months.

That made East Renfrewshire the third most expensive place in Scotland to buy a house, behind only Edinburgh (£312,459) and East Lothian (£288,058).

The cheapest place to snap up a property was East Ayrshire, where the average price was just £121,488.

Across Scotland as a whole, the average house price in December was £180,485, which is up by more than 11% compared to a year earlier.

Latest figures also show that the number of homes sold locally dropped in the year from October 2020 to October 2021 as many potential buyers struggled to find their dream property.

Just 412 homes were sold in Renfrewshire in October last year, compared to 516 in the same month in 2020.

In East Renfrewshire, the total fell from 251 to 161.

Nitesh Patel, strategic economist at Yorkshire Building Society, said: “A key challenge in the current housing market is the lack of supply of homes for sale whilst demand continues to remain strong.”

Alan Penman, business development manager at chartered surveyors Walker Fraser Steele, highlighted the Covid pandemic and the need for many people to work from home as a driving force in soaring property prices.

He said: “The demand for bigger properties to accommodate post-pandemic working and living needs and the lack of suitable stock have supported growth.”