Deputy First Minister John Swinney is to address the ninth annual Scottish Property Federation (SPF) conference next month.

Mr Swinney will highlight the challenges facing Scotland's property sector as new reports show the country is the 18th most attractive place to invest in the real estate throughout Europe.

Other reports show investment in commercial property fell by 11% compared to 2014, while Edinburgh and Glasgow have fallen behind Manchester and Birmingham has good places to invest.

The conference will explore how the country should position itself to compete for the global capital,which will drive essential development in house-building, office accommodation and the regeneration of the built environment.

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Chris Stewart, chairman of the SPF, said: "We need to start focusing attracting global capital. Local financing for new development is increasingly limited and so international capital is essential to Scotland's commercial real estate sector and therefore the nation's economic growth.

"As a sector we build homes for rent and purchase, which are desperately needed; we create new office space, which can attract expanding businesses and we can drive the regeneration of our towns and cities, but to do this we increasingly rely on investors, pension funds and private equity companies which have a global outlook and take an unemotional and risk averse view of their investments. This is the world we now compete within."

The SPF Conference will take place on 09 March between 12pm – 6pm in Edinburgh.

(LM)