The Scottish home building industry yesterday welcomed Nationwide's latest house price index which shows that Scotland remains the best performing part of the UK – even recording a slight seasonally adjusted increase in the last quarter of 2008 (the only part of the UK to have experienced any rise in prices for a year).

Jonathan Fair, Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland, the organisation which represents companies building 95% of the country’s new homes, said: "With Scotland also found to be the most optimistic area of the UK with over half of consumers expecting house prices to stay the same or slightly rise over the next six months, these figures demonstrate the underlying strength of sentiment within our local housing market.

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"This is especially welcome at the start of the new year and, coupled with lower interest rates, hopefully bodes well for future performance. Key, however, is the overall availability of mortgage finance. The UK Government must therefore act NOW on the recommendations of Sir James Crosby if it is to give the industry a fighting chance of recovery in 2009."

(GK/KMcA)