Yes creates housing uncertainty - but so does No

A Yes vote in tomorrow's Scottish referendum would create over a year on uncertainty in the housing market - but a No vote would still leave people unsure how the Scottish economy may change as a result of additional devolution.

That is the view of LSL Property Services, which says over half of Scotland's property prices fell in July leaving the country still on average some 0.6 per cent below the 2008 peak, with transactions still 30 per cent lower than six years ago.

The new figures are not all bad news. There were 9,285 transactions in July, climbing five per cent from June to reach the highest monthly total since July 2008. And in two particular areas prices reached new high - major employment centres Aberdeenshire and Edinburgh.

But on the other side of the coin, uncertainty is leaving its trace according to Gordon Fowlis of Your Move, one of LSL's agency brands.

Depending on the outcome of the referendum, there is a chance of a mass take-off and sale of investments, which would disrupt house prices in the short-term. Ambiguity surrounding Scotland's future isn't helping. We are in the throes of the longest period of sustained monthly house price growth since February 2007, but only time will tell whether this recovery will be derailed says Fowlis.

A Yes vote would usher in a further sixteen months of uncertainty. A Scotland outside the UK would open the floodgates to the real questions of currency, exchange rates, mortgage risk, and property taxation. Many mortgage holders could see their LTV shoot up as the implications of borrowing from a bank in a foreign country are unmasked. A No vote doesn't guarantee clarity either - but the mist of ambiguity would clear sooner he says.