The number of houses sold in Scotland increased during the last quarter of 2011, but there was a fall in the number of flats sold. The average price for domestic properties dropped by 0.5% according to official statistics released by Registers of Scotland.

Speaking about the figures, Kenny Crawford, Registers of Scotland’s Director of Commercial Services, said:

"The biggest increase for the number of sales was for detached houses, with 4.5% more sold in the last quarter of 2011 than the last quarter of 2010 (October to December). However, the sale of flats dropped by 6.3%, meaning that the overall volume of sales in Scotland rose by 0.2%. This pattern is reflected in the average price of flats, which dropped by 7.4%. Within these statistics, flatted properties account for over 65% of the domestic property market in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and 34% for Scotland.

“The strength of sales in the house market is having a levelling effect on the market as a whole and this is keeping the changes to Scotland’s property averages at under 1%”

Scotland’s major cities saw an increase in average price except Glasgow, which dropped by 0.4%. For the local authority areas around Glasgow, Inverclyde saw the biggest fall in prices with a drop of 12% compared to 2010. East and West Dunbartonshire showed significant increase in the number of properties changing hands with both experiencing an increase of over 28%.

The City of Edinburgh continues to hold the highest average value for domestic properties at £226,000, up 4.5% on the same period in  2010.