The 2003 Rural Scotland Price Survey (RSPS) is the third in a 'new' series of price surveys. It is a geographical comparison of prices in rural and urban areas of Scotland. The 2003 survey maintains the same core structure and methods as the 2001 and 2002 surveys. The main modification in 2003 is the introduction of private house prices as a proxy for the depreciation cost of owning a private home. This was a significant omission from previous surveys. The RSPS measures prices in rural areas and compares them to urban prices. It does not attempt to measure cost of living or household expenditure patterns.
Overall, the pattern of relative price differences between rural and urban Scotland was similar in 2003 to the two preceding years. The report provides additional analysis comparing remote rural prices with prices in the urban sampling locations combined with nine accessible rural locations. Accessible rural is defined as being within a 30 minute drive time of an urban centre of at least 10,000 inhabitants. Remote rural locations fall outwith these drive time zones.
The main findings of the 2003 RSPS are outlined below, comparing rural prices with the corresponding prices from 24 urban sampling locations across Scotland:-
- In 2003, prices were 1.5% lower in rural Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) areas than in urban areas, and 3.3% lower in rural Scottish Enterprise (SE) areas.
- Notable differences occurred in several of the sub-indices that comprise the overall rural-urban index. The greatest difference in prices between rural and urban Scotland lay in the housing index, which includes rents, rates, insurance, house depreciation and maintenance costs. The housing index was 13.8% lower in rural Scotland than in urban Scotland (10.6% lower if house prices are excluded, as in previous years).
- Food was 8.2% higher in rural Scotland than in urban areas in 2003 (11.0% higher in the rural HIE area and 4.8% higher in the rural SE area). There was little difference between rural and urban areas in the price of on and off licence sales of alcohol.
- Road fual was 6.3% higher in rural areas than in urban areas; 9.7% higher in rural HIE areas and 2.2% higher in rural SE areas. Other motoring costs such as garage costs and insurance were 5.7% lower in rural areas - a similar pattern to previous years.
- Price variability is higher at local authority level, but in some cases (Moray and East Ayrshire) there are only two sampling locations. Based on a three-year average of prices, the overall basket of goods and services was highest in Shetland where it was 5.0% higher than urban areas, and in the Western Isles where it was 3.7% higher. Rural prices were lowest in East Ayrshire (5.4% lower) and Moray (4.5% lower).
