ESTATE agents have hailed "calmer waters" in Scotland's property market with house values rising by an average £3776 over the course of the year, according to new research.

The average price paid for a home north of the Border is now £144,615, LSL Property Services and Academetrics said. Researchers found "green shoots" were beginning to show in the property field, with sales climbing 8% in March when compared with activity in the same month in 2012.

A total of 25 out of 32 authority areas are seeing more sales. Midlothian showed the greatest rise, with an increase of 70% when compared with a year ago.

In the crucial Edinburgh market, the number of flats being sold was up by 60% in March, compared with the same month in 2012.

Sales are being driven, in part, by a lack of property coming on to the market with competition being ramped up between buyers. This has helped lead to the rise in prices, researchers said.

Gordon Fowlis, regional managing director of Your Move, an estate agency chain that is part of LSL, said: "Although the Scottish housing market has had to battle with a lack of cheap mortgages and poor funding conditions over the past year, it looks as if the market is now sailing into calmer waters.

"The positive increases in house prices for three con-secutive months of 2013 are encouraging."

Mr Fowlis said strict mortgage lending rules were still hampering "masses of beleaguered first-time buyers".

Despite the positive outlook, house prices are still £1257 lower than a year ago, he added. "But it looks as though we are now turning a corner," Mr Fowlis said.