Buyers across Scotland are willing to pay an average of 10% over the asking price to secure the property. However sellers at the top end of the market face a 'reality gap' between what they ask for and what buyers are willing to pay, according to Scotland's largest property website.

The latest quarterly house price report published by s1homes.com reveals that properties across Scotland are selling 10% above their average asking price during the third quarter of the year (July – Sept 2018).

This means sellers are getting, on average, £16,000 more than they initially expected for their properties. This is a rise of £7,000 compared to the previous quarter.

Buyers of flats, terraced houses and semi-detached houses across Scotland are all willing to pay more than the asking price, with flats typically selling for £33,000 more, while terraced houses on average sell for £25,000 more and semi-detached houses for £11,000 more than their owners ask for them.

However, the reality gap – the difference between what sellers hope to sell their properties for and the price they achieve – remains wide at the higher end of the market, where detached houses are selling almost 7% below the average asking price.

This means that, on average, buyers are securing sales for £19,000 less than they had hoped..

Martin Devlin, Head of Sales at s1homes said that overall the news was good for those selling property: “This quarter has shown a significant increase in the average selling price across Scotland, particularly for flats and in the main two cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh, resulting in buyers willing to pay over the asking price to secure the property." This means that for those people thinking of selling, now is a good time to put their properties on the market, he said. "but they should make sure that they price them competitively, particularly at the higher end of the market.”

Glasgow and Edinburgh continue to be hot spots, with selling prices increasing quarterly, resulting in properties typically selling for £28,000 and £40,000 respectively above their asking price.

With regards to the performance seen in Glasgow, Barry Chuwen, Director of MQ Estate Agents adds, “We are still seeing that both viewing requests and sales are still strong in the Glasgow market. What we have now noticed is more and more first-time buyers entering the market which is driving prices up across the board.”

The quarterly Scottish House Price Report published by s1homes.com analyses the reality gap, the difference between what sellers hope to sell their properties for and the price they actually achieve.

The report compares the asking prices of over 20,000 properties for sale on s1homes with the actual prices achieved as recorded by the official government agency, Registers of Scotland, and provides trends for the various property markets throughout Scotland.

Outside the main Scottish cities, the majority of regions saw an increase of average selling prices but it’s still possible to buy a property for under the asking price, in the regions of Argyll & Bute, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian. Mr Devlin said the existence of a 'reality gap' in these regions is allowing buyers to pay on average £11,000, £4,000 and £8,000 respectively below the asking price for homes.