People looking to buy a house in Scotland may be glad to know that the Scottish property market is the strongest in the UK.
This is according to Nationwide’s most recent House Price Index, which showed that house price growth has slowed throughout the UK, bringing the average rate down to less than a third of the rate seen at the end of last year.
The average house price is now £179,363, representing a quarterly decrease of 1.7 per cent. However, Scottish property is now 6.3 per cent higher than this time last year.
Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: "Scotland has outperformed England and Wales since 2003 and remains the strongest part of the UK in terms of house price growth.
"The annual pace of growth in Scotland has been slowing quarter by quarter for a year, but is still almost three times faster that in England."
Belfast saw the biggest increase of 14 per cent in terms of city-based figures, although Aberdeen came second and Edinburgh fifth, with a 13 per cent and eight per cetn increase respectively.