House prices in Scotland are rising at the fastest for a decade, Savills has reported.

The estate agent puts the rises down to a COVID-19-led property boom that has produced double-digit rates of annual increase – with average Edinburgh house price topping £300,000 for the first time.

‘The sales market, particularly for family homes, has been very active in the first half of the year’, said Savills director John Forsyth. ‘Nearly 80 per cent of the properties we have sold have attracted multiple bidders. Premiums of up to 20 per cent over valuations have been achieved by our Edinburgh city office.

The firm said that in June registered buyer inquiry levels were up 30 per cent on a year ago. As in England, it seems the pandemic has encouraged many families to move to larger properties that are more suitable for working from home.

Savills’ comments were reported in Scottish Housing News which also quoted Rettie & Co head of research Dr John Boyle as saying the last time Scotland had seen similar house market growth was in the bubble of the early to mid-noughties leading up to the global financial crisis. ‘Increased demand has not been met by a rise in supply, which is broadly stagnant or below comparable 2019 levels, therefore prices will rise’, he said.

Registers of Scotland, which records all Scotland’s house transactions, said that the cost of the average house in the country had increased from just under £153,000 in May 2020 to £171,448 this year.