House prices fall in February

The price of houses fell by 0.3 per cent in February although this figure is still 4.2 per cent higher than at the same time last year, according to the Halifax House Price Index.

This means that the average house price paid to buy a house in Scotland and the rest of the UK is £196,649, up by £4,390 over the year.

Halifax forecasts a flat housing market for the coming year though it says there are fewer people unemployed, a factor underpinning broad economic stability.

It also predicts that the Bank of England will cut the base interest rate at least twice more during the year.

Halifax’s data also revealed that residential stamp duty paid when people buy a house in Scotland or the rest of the UK had doubled in five years to £6.4 billion in the last financial year.

Previous research by Halifax Estate Agents revealed that women let men take care of the financial side of things when moving home.

Almost half (48 per cent) of men managed the finances associated with moving, compared to 34 per cent of women.