SCOTLAND’S housing sales faltered last month, but a new report has suggested a more positive outlook for the next quarter.

In December, two per cent more chartered surveyors said they saw a fall rather than a rise in sales across the country, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) residential market survey.

Figures for predicted sales over the next three months were slightly more positive, with 15 per cent of respondents anticipating an increase.

The number of potential new house buyers was only marginally positive in December, with a net balance of four per cent reporting a rise. The net balance is the proportion of respondents reporting a rise minus those reporting a fall.

New instructions to sell failed to see any pick-up, marking the eighth straight month of declining supply.

Respondents to the survey continued to highlight low stock levels as a key concern, and Rics said a lack of choice for would-be buyers was weighing heavily on the Scottish and UK-wide housing markets.

Simon Rubinsohn, Rics chief economist, said: “A familiar story relating to supply continues to drive both the sales and lettings markets, impacting on activity, prices and rents.

“The latest Rics survey provides further evidence that both price and rent pressures are continuing to spread from the more highly valued to more modestly valued parts of the market, for good or ill.”

There was a continued growth in Scottish house prices in December, with 32 per cent more chartered surveyors reporting a rise rather than fall – up from 27 per cent in November. The report said this may in part be due to the lack of supply.

Price expectations remain positive in the short-term, with a net balance of 21 per cent more respondents in Scotland predicting prices to continue to rise over the next three months.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh homeowners are reaping the benefits of the strongest sellers’ market since the financial crash in 2008, according to one property expert.

New data covering October to December last year showed more than 70 per cent of sellers sold their properties for a price equal to, or above, their home report valuation.

The trend saw the average price in the capital rise by 3.8 per cent on last year to £232,781 – in stark contrast to 2013 where the majority of properties in Edinburgh sold for less than their original valuation.

Figures from Edinburgh Solicitors’ Property Centre (ESPC) also revealed that sellers were taking advantage of speedy sales, with an average time on the market dropping to just 22 days – down from 29 days in the fourth quarter of 2015.

David Marshall, operations director at Warners Solicitors and Estate Agents, said the reasons why sellers were finding themselves in such a strong position were simple.

“Demand from buyers is consistently high, fuelled by low interest rates coupled with mortgage lending and economic conditions that are now more favourable,” he said. “At the same time, the supply of properties coming on to the market remains comparatively low, as would-be sellers opted not to put their home on to the market until they found somewhere to buy.

“This results in fewer properties coming on to the market – causing this huge imbalance in supply and demand that is favouring sellers.”

Marshall added that he believed that, this year, the signs were that the market would again begin to balance itself out.