There has been a three per cent drop in transactions in Scotland during May, against the historic trend for the time of year and a possible consequence of the Mortgage Market Review and a reflection of uncertainty over the upcoming independence referendum.
Whether this monthly blip is symptomatic of a broader turning tide in the housing market remains to be seen. More changes are afoot, with greater stress testing and loan-to-income caps coming into play says an LSL Scottish spokesman, Donald MacLellan.
Commenting on LSL's latest housing market survey north of the border, he also revealed that house prices in Glasgow fell 3.1 per cent in May amidst fears that further intervention in the market by the Bank of England would pull the rug out from under the feet of recovery in areas where growth is still bedding down.
However, across Scotland as a whole prices rose a modest 0.5 per cent in May, making this the longest sustained period of all-Scotland price growth in seven years.
Overall, house prices in Scotland have risen 4.3 per cent in the past year and a new record house price has been reached in Aberdeenshire, where the average home is now £224,803.
First-time buyers provide a solid foundation for the recovery to continue building on. In the three months to May 2014, the number of flats sold rose 26 per cent on the same period last year, followed by terraced houses with a 22 per cent annual increase in sales according to MacLellan.
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