Average Scottish house price ‘hits record high’

The figure was more than £1,200 higher than the previous peak reached in May 2008, during the last housing boom.

The January total followed a 1 per cent rise in average house prices since December, the biggest monthly increase in seven months.

But, completed home sales in January were down 44 per cent on the previous month - double the usual seasonal downturn.

The findings were released in the latest house price index from Your Move/Acadata. Most areas saw prices rise last month, with Fife and West Lothian recording annual increases of about 10 per cent.

North Ayrshire experienced the biggest rise on the mainland over the last year, up 11.6 per cent.

Dundee saw prices soar 6.7 per cent during January - the largest month-on-month increase in Scotland though prices were down by more than 7 per cent on a year ago in West Dunbartonshire.