House seller optimism raises asking prices

Traditional February optimism on the part of those looking to sell a house in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK has resulted in a rise in asking prices.

Figures from the latest Rightmove house price index suggests that the average price for a property this month rose to £237,856, reflecting a 3.2 per cent (£7,428) rise from the figure of £230,428 in January.

The firm explains that a smaller number of properties – 132,000 – are available this February in comparison to 144,000 in the corresponding month in 2007 and 155,000 in 2006.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, comments: "Most sellers obviously want to achieve as much as possible for their property and traditionally they choose to test a more ambitious price early in the year as they have plenty of time to adjust it down later."

In other news that may be of interest to people looking to buy or sell a house in Scotland, Knight Frank recently reported that the price of agricultural land increased by 25.3 per cent in the 12-month period ending in December 2007.