Cost of owning a house falls
by £388
The cost of owning and running a house has dropped by £388 over the last two years, according to new research.
Between April 2008 and this year, costs fell by 4% from £8,949 to £8,562 as a result of smaller mortgage payments, figures from the Bank of Scotland showed.
Housing costs which were equivalent to 32% of average earnings two years ago have dropped to just 28% this year.
Suren Thiru, housing economist at the bank, said smaller mortgage payments had led to a fall in the cost of running and owning a house in Scotland over the last two years.
She added that the drop had helped to ease the strain on households' finances, providing some relief to homeowners during the economic downturn.
The lower cost of running a home in Scotland has been driven by a 19% decline in mortgage payments, the equivalent of about £735.
During this two-year period the average mortgage rate for existing borrowers dropped from 5.8% to 3.67%.
But all other aspects of running a home have gone up over the past two years, according to the report.
The cost of household appliances, power and maintenance and repairs have all gone up by 10%, with phone bills up by 7% and insurance up by 1%.
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