ESTATE agents say the worst is now over for the housing market after a report showed property prices in Scotland have risen by almost £2300 since the end of last year.
Data from LSL Property Services and Acadametrics showed the average home north of the Border was worth £143,809 in May, compared with £141,526 in December.
The report is the latest to indicate growth in the housing market and follows studies by Registers of Scotland and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors that showed house prices were rising along with demand.
According to the LSL report, prices in Aberdeen hit a record high in May, soaring 5% to £194,202.
The city, along with Edinburgh and Glasgow, is one of several "mortgage micro-climates", with job opportunities and better wages fuelling regional growth.
Alan Penman, of chartered surveyors Walker Fraser Steele, part of the LSL Property Services group, said that prices dipped slightly overall in April and May, but had been up since the end of 2012.
He said: "Compared to the beginning of the year, the outlook is distinctly sunnier.
"The average house is worth almost £2300 more than in December.
"Prices haven't increased as quickly north of the Border compared with England, but the increases there are being driven mostly by London."
He added that property sales were also improving, with mortgages more readily available.
In the five months to May, sales were 4.4% higher than in the same period last year, according to the report.
Mr Penman warned the market still had "a long way to go", with the number of first-time buyers less than half the figure before the 2008 downturn and banks still reluctant to lend to high loan-to-value borrowers.
He added: "The finances of many borrowers simply don't hold up to the strain of saving for a large deposit.
"Inflation remains high, wage growth remains weak.
"Many borrowers require additional help to put enough money away for a deposit. When demand slows, house prices follow."
A surge in the number of first-time buyers is likely to transform the market in the future, the report suggests.
Mr Penman added: "In the first quarter of 2013, loans to first-time buyers were 10% higher than this time last year.
"At the moment, this improvement is focused in the cities, where the majority of first-time buyers are based.
"As government schemes like Help to Buy and Funding for Lending continue to encourage new first-time buyers to the market by supporting their efforts to secure finance, this should grow in impact. High demand for Scottish rental property will continue to feed demand for property too."
Bill Cullen, chairman of Clyde Property, said that while there had been no return to the level of activity seen during the boom years before the economic downturn in 2007, recovery was definitely under way.
He said: "There is no bad news at the moment and we are past the worst times.
"Our forecasting is that prices will stay stable for the foreseeable future and that's not a bad thing when people are budgeting carefully.
"We have also noticed an increase in the number of properties being bought and sold, and that is holding true for all property types.
"Sales are up, most noticeably in Glasgow's west end and people are realising that as no-one is getting big pay rises at the moment the price of big ticket items such as housing is staying fairly stable."
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