Five things about Cumnock — the UK's 'most affordable town'

It found that the average house price in the East Ayrshire village is just 1.1 times typical household earnings, making it the cheapest place to purchase a home.  

But what’s life like in Cumnock? Here’s some facts about the newly crowned UK property hotspot.  

Glaisnock Street, Cumnock (Image: NQ) Cumnock facts: 

• Around 13,000 people live in Cumnock, which is found where the Glaisnock and Lugar rivers meet. Its name probably comes from the Gaelic ‘Com-oich’, meaning ‘meeting of the waters – but could also refer to a crooked hill or a little shrine. The true origins are lost to the mists of time. Today the town is part of the Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituency of the Scottish Parliament, and represented in Junior football by Cumnock Juniors, the bitter rivals for Auchinleck Talbot. Cumnock also boasts the largest educational campus in Scotland - the Robert Burns Academy secondary, which also comprises the Lochnorris Primary School and Cherry Trees Early Childhood Centre.
• The town is a former mining village, with a long and distinguished industrial history. In common with many of Scotland’s former working-class areas, there was a strong socialist impulse in the town, which fed into the Labour movement. James Keir Hardie, father of the Labour party and its first leader, lived in the town for a large part of his life. His statue stands outside the town hall. Today it is home to Emergency One, a company which makes the majority of the UK's fire engines.  

A young Anas Sarwar stands next to the bust of Keir Hardie in Cumnock (Image: NQ)

• But how affordable is a house in Cumnock? According to Rightmove, the properties in the town had an overall average price of £148,950 over the last year. Overall, sold prices in Cumnock over the last year were similar to the previous year and 18 per cent up on the 2021 peak of £125,705. That’s above the average for East Ayrshire as a whole – which stands at £130,666, according to Registers of Scotland (RoS). But way below the £200,00 average price across Scotland as a whole.

READ MORE: 

• Cumnock revealed to be 'most affordable' to buy a home in the UK
• Home sales rise at fastest rate in Scotland in four years
• House prices in one Scottish area 'rising by £524 a week'
• Scottish houses price rise forecast doubled but rented sector warning

• If that doesn’t seem cheap, that’s because it’s an average over all property sold in the past year, which can be skewed if higher-value properties outsell lower-value dwellings. As of November, the town shows steep fluctuations in house prices. A three-bedroom detached house is on the market for £100,000, while a three-bedroom flat can also be bought for £34,000.   

Dumfries House (Image: NQ)

• King Charles, back when he was just the Prince of Wales, was behind the ambitious Knockroon development on the edge of Cumnock, adjacent to the recently-rescued-for-the-nation Dumfries House. The plan was to build 771 homes in a sustainable development, but building work has stalled with only phase one – 31 homes – completed.  

And a bit of ancient history.... 

Despite its provincial status, Cumnock has played a small, but pivotal role in Scottish History. The town was home to not just one, but two of the heroes from the wars of Independence. William Wallace is reputed to have lived there for a few months, while Robert the Bruce was chased through the town by the agents of Edward I, who tracked him with his own bloodhound. However, The Bruce escaped the treacherous hound by running through a river and got away.