Three Scottish coastal towns have seen their house prices more than double over the past decade, according to research.

The harbour town of Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire experienced the biggest rise with a 109 per cent jump from an average price of £63,540 in 2005 to £132,920 last year.

Lerwick and another fishing town, Peterhead, in Aberdeenshire, came seond and third in the new survey with the costs of buying up 102 per cent.

The Shetland port saw average prices soare from around £77,500 to more than £156,000, while Peterhead jumped from around £69,000 to £139,000.

It came as the survey by the Bank of Scotland found price trends in towns by the sea have recorded substantial gains since 2005.

A further 15 coastal towns, out of a total of 59 surveyed, have recorded price increases of at least 50per cent since 2005, according to the bank's annaul survey of 59 seaside towns across the country.

Partly due to the substantial rises in the top performing towns, the average house price in Scotland's seaside communities rose by 38per cent between 2005 and 2014 - exceeding the 31per cent increase for Britain as a whole.

Newtonhill, south of Aberdeen, saw the largest house price increase over the last year, going from £199,902 in 2013 to £240,899 last year (21per cent). Dalgety Bay, in Fife, and Macduff, in Aberdeenshire, were the other top performers over those 12 months, with rises of 16per cent and 15per cent respectively.

The list also includes Millport, a popular town for tourists, particularly in summer who flock to the Isle of Cumbrae in the firth of Clyde.

Prices in the town have risen from an average of £53,656 to £97,419

, representing a rise of 82 per cent for anyone fortunate enough to have invested there in the middle of the last decade.

Stonehaven is also hugely popular with people commuting to and from jobs in Aberdeen, thanks to its good train and road links, with prices representing good value compared to the Granite City as well as a more relaxed lifestyle.

Prices there have risen from £131,722 on average a decade ago to £243,741, a rise of 85 per cent.

On average, Scottish seaside towns have fared better, despite the post-2007 property crash that affected the entire country, than the overall British figure. They are up 38 per cent compared to the UK figure of 31 per cent.

The study also uncovered something of an east-west divide in house prices in seaside towns, with nine of the 10 most expensive to be found on the eastern coastline.

St Andrews remains Scotland's most expensive seaside town, with an average house price of £294,586, followed by North Berwick at £294,076.

All of the 10 least expensive seaside towns are in western Scotland.

At the opposite end of the scale, Port Bannatyne is perhaps worthy of investment for the future. The harbour on the isle of Bute has a harbour, small marina and a 13 hole golf course, but topped the list of least expensive seaside towns with an average house price of £73,539.

It was followed by Campbeltown, (£85,659), Thurso in Caithness (£88,500), where near neighbour Wick costs just over £90,000. and Girvan in South Ayrshire where an average home will set house-hunters back by £89,064. Greenock in Inverclyde, which has been boosted by regeneration efforts in recent years, costs just over £95,000 for the average property.

Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Bank of Scotland, said: "Seaside towns are highly popular places to live in Scotland as they offer a unique lifestyle with a typically high quality of life and a healthy environment.

"A number of seaside towns have recorded substantial house price increases over the past decade, predominately on the east coast. The boom in the Scottish oil sector during the period also provided a boost to house prices, particularly in several towns along the Aberdeenshire coastline.

"Scottish seaside town house prices have done particularly well over the last 10 years, outperforming the average for Great Britain as a whole."