UK PROPERTY 'TO OUTPERFORM LONDON'

Many contractorshave been laid off in recent months as operators cut their costs, with Brent Crude currently trading at less than $60 a barrel. The new study suggests the cost-cutting is now being passed onto onto the city's rentals market.

It comes at a time when the average rent of that style of property has risen by 6.8 per cent year on year across Scotland.

According to researchers at Lettingstats found the average advertised monthly rent for a two-bed property across Scotland was £654 in the period from December to February this year.

While the north-east city has witnessed a slump as workers are laid off from firms connected to the industry, Edinburgh's average cost of a two bedroom property is £784 per month, up 5.3 per cent year-on-year, while rents in Glasgow went up 6.5 per cent to £665 a month.

Dundee also experienced a rise of 3.6 per cent to £565.

The report by Lettingstats, the research arm of letting agent Lettingweb, said: "All eyes have been on the Aberdeen economy since the dramatic collapse in oil prices and it is fair to say that the rental market does seem to have adjusted accordingly.

"Advertised rental volumes are always lower during the winter however the average rent for a 3 bed property was £1,216, down 7.2% on same period a year ago.

"Two bed properties were below the thousand mark at £972, down 1.6 per cent on the year.

"Time will tell if these are temporary or part of a more significant re-adjustment of the Aberdeen housing market."

The report also found that across Scotland 66.3 per cent of tenants spent less than 40 per cent of their household income on rent.

Dan Cookson, head of research at Lettingweb, said: "These new figures show that whilst the last year has shown some rental level growth across most of Scotland, available property remains affordable for the vast majority of tenants and prospective tenants.

"That affordability is crucial to the further growth of the market, as it seeks to meet continually increasing demand.

"Policymakers need to ensure that steps are taken to encourage further supply into the market, in order that increasing affordability can be maintained."

Meanwhile, a separate report has found house price increases across the UK are set to outperform those in London during 2015, for the first time in six years, housing analysts predict.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) said it expects UK house prices generally to increase by 1.5per cent this year, while property values in London fall by 3.6per cent during 2015 following "years of over-performance".

This would be the first time since 2009 that prices across the UK have held up better than those in the capital.

But the predicted London price dip will not last for long and by next year, the capital is expected to have pulled back ahead of the rest of the UK once more. Property values are expected to increase by 2.7per cent in London and by 2.3per cent across the UK generally in 2016.

Cebr said that the London housing market tends to be particularly affected by the uncertainty of the outcome of the general election - but in the longer term, underlying factors such as economic growth and a lack of housing for buyers to choose from in the capital will push prices upwards.

In January, Cebr said that UK house prices would fall by 0.6per cent this year - but it has revised its prediction upwards, saying that changes to stamp duty in December, which made the tax cheaper for the majority of home buyers liable to pay it, have been felt sooner than expected - with buyers able to put the cash they have saved on stamp duty towards their deposit.

The overhaul of stamp duty means that instead of paying a single rate of tax based on the value of a property price, home buyers now only pay the rate of tax on the part of the property price that falls within each tax band. The "tipping point" at which the tax has now been made more expensive for buyers liable to pay it comes when homes are worth upwards of £937,500.