Enquiries from prospective homebuyers and newly agreed home sales in Scotland have risen at their fastest rate in several years, according to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Residential Market Survey.

Inverclyde has seen the biggest rise in cash property purchases anywhere in the UK in the space of a decade, according to new figures – with more than half of all properties for sale purchased outright last year.

The average price of a property in Scotland has hit a record £200,000 in August 2024, a 5.4% year-on-year increase, according to the latest UK House Price Index data.

Average private rents in Great Britain have climbed to record highs, prompting a call for the next government to prioritise measures to help create an extra 120,000 rental properties.