A new study has reported that the growth of Scotland's housing market has slowed to its lowest rate in a year.

The report, from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said that the number of people looking to purchase a home in February increased at its slowest rate since April 2013.

Surveyors who participated in the research say they do expect the market to pick up again over the summer months.

The latest residential market survey by RICS claim that the initial surge in demand for properties, bolstered by the more accessible housing market, had started to ease.

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Some 24% of surveyors said there was an increase in interest from people looking to purchase a home, but this compares to 34% in January and 52% in December 2013.

Elsewhere, the report found that the supply of homes is still "falling well short of required levels".

As a result of fewer properties coming onto the market, house prices continued to rise – 45% more surveyors reported price increases. Property prices in Scotland have now risen for 10 consecutive months.

Addressing the latest statistics, Sara Speirs, RICS Scotland Director, said: "The growth in buyer numbers that we've seen for some months started to slow down in February, as the surge in interest sparked towards the end of last summer began to level off.

"While this does not mean an end to the increasing activity we've been seeing recently, it does suggest that the pent-up demand generated throughout the downturn is gradually exhausting itself."

(JP/IT)