ITS billing as Scotland’s Route 66 has brought burgeoning success on a surprising scale to some of the remotest communities in the country.
Now the North Coast 500 has also given the Highland property market a jolt with an unexpected increase in sales and house prices bringing fears young families and workers could be priced out of home buying altogether.
Although the surge in popularity of the 516-mile route – one-fifth of which is single track – has boosted tourism along its way, there is growing concern that price-tags could push locals out of the property market after one plot at Cuaig in Applecross that is just 250 square metres went up for sale for £95,000.
READ MORE: Locals find living round NC500 brings problems as well as profits
It comes as communities are struggling to find staff, or accommodation for staff if they do manage to hire.
Not far along the road near Keppock at another larger site two plots are being sold for £70,000 and £75,000, through Applecross Trust, which is giving locals first chance to buy and the money goes back into the community.
However, residents and businesspeople said it does not solve the housing shortage.
Judith Fish, of the Applecross Inn, said: “What’s happening is houses do sell and they do sell for much more than market value, because they can be up to £1,000 a week to rent as a holiday let.
“But the problem we’ve got now is that not enough people live here.
“Applecross is between 55 and 60 per cent holiday homes and second homes and that has a great detrimental effect on the school, the shops and the people we employ here.”
She said the community has welcomed the tourism boost but that that should be better managed.
She said: “It’s a great complaint to have, we’re far too busy, but we can’t get enough staff. Plus accommodation, people can’t afford to live here to work in the community.
“I feel the property prices have been far too high and at the same time we struggle to gain any land for affordable housing.”
She added: “If you are building in Applecross the services are difficult and to get a house built here, 100 miles from Inverness, the builders need accommodation and you will be looking at something like £250,000 on top of that.
“It is not an affordable local person’s house.”
COMMENT: Has the North Coast 500 been a blessing or a curse?
Jon Glover, who chairs the Applecross Community Council, said: “It is a lot of money when your neighbour is building on a croft and getting a grant and you’re having to pay £95,000 for a piece of land. It kind of jars a bit.”
Andy Wightman, Green MSP and land reform expert, said the pricing hike “is a symptom of a dysfunctional planning system and land market”.
He is pressing Holyrood to allow councils to acquire land for housing at existing use value.
Since the route was launched in 2015 it has brought 29,000 more visitors to the Highlands and added £9m to the region’s economy, according to a previous study commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, a total now thought to have been well surpassed.
Phiddy Robertson, of estate agent Galbraith’s Inverness office, said interest has increased along the NC500.
She said: “Without a doubt it has increased awareness of the north of Scotland and we are seeing with that more confidence in the sellers and the purchasers.”
The number of people registering on Galbraith’s books as potential purchasers has increased by 40% to 589 in a year, and appraisals up by a third.
VIDEO: Scotland's Route 66 helps attractions top 30m visits
Mr Robertson added: “Interest in the lifestyle offered here has been boosted by the success of the North Coast 500 and the beauty of the Highland scenery remains its most enduring attribute.”
Prices rises fluctuate along the route to as much as a 12% rise in some places.
But Right Move said the overall average house price in the region was up 5% on last year to £182,000, set against £158,000 in Glasgow – up 10% – and £288,000 in Edinburgh, a 14% rise.
Some people living on the tourist route have also said they want to move house because the area has become so busy.
Increased traffic has also led to congestion with some locals claiming it has hampered their enjoyment of the outdoors.
The views have been shared with researchers at Stirling University who are assessing the impact of the route which links Inverness to Black Isle, Caithness, Sutherland and Wester Ross.
Health chiefs have also warned that the tourist boom has made it difficult to recruit nurses on Skye for shifts – because so many are involved in the holiday business.
Chrisann O’Halloran, senior charge nurse for Skye, said up to 70% of nursing staff on the island were also involved in catering for visitors which was affecting flexibility on rostering.
The problems were particularly acute on trying to arrange shifts when nurses were on days off.
She said: “There were six nurses I phoned in a row who couldn’t do a shift – a lot of them have holiday huts or bed and breakfasts.
“The last two years of recruitment have just been blown out of the water with the problems we are facing.”
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