Scotland's housing market remains flat, according to figures released by Lloyds TSB.

The banking group said its latest Scottish House Price Monitor showed the quarterly price index for domestic properties fell by 2.7% in the first three months of the year.

The average price for a Scottish house is now £148,024, with the lowest prices in south eastern Scotland (excluding Edinburgh).

But 19% more houses are being sold than at the same time a year ago, which the group put down to the withdrawal of the stamp duty concession.


Donald MacRae of Lloyd TSB Scotland said: "The market has adjusted to the recession with a halving of sales and a period of volatile price movement. Average house prices are now 89% of their peak of three and three quarter years ago. There is no sign of a return to 2007 levels but equally no precipitous falls in either house sales or house prices."

Mr MacNae said consumer confidence had risen in the first quarter of 2012, but inflation was squeezing disposable incomes.

"The Scottish housing market remains in the doldrums," he concluded.

A recent report by Nationwide bank showed that across the UK as a whole, house prices are 0.7% lower than they were a year ago.

Robert Gardner of Nationwide said a lack of new homes on the market was "supporting" prices.

He said: "This is in part a reflection of the low rate of building in recent years, which has failed to keep pace with household formation."

(NE)