House sales in Highlands enjoyed a mini-boom over the festive period – with the highest figures recorded in almost a decade.
Statistics for December show that the number of sales increased by 40% compared to the same month last year, up from 80 to 112.
Highland Solicitors Property Centre (HSPC), which reported the data yesterday, said it had been its busiest December since 2006.
Potential buyers had also benefitted from a 26% increase in the choice of properties registered for sale, compared to last year, it said.
Overall, the firm said there were more people looking to buy a new home in the north in the second half of 2015 compared to the year before.
However, the total value of sales for 2015 was down 2% from ÂŁ193.887million to ÂŁ189.307million, and the number of homes sold had fallen by the same 2% margin, from 1,154 in 2014 to 1,128 last year.
Average house prices remained stable in the Highlands across the year, with only a slight fall from ÂŁ168,012 in 2014 to ÂŁ167,726, according to HSPC.
Sarah Woodcock, manager of HSPC, said: “Although the December sales are very high, I think it’s fair to say that one month doesn’t show a specific trend, so it’s worth looking at the year’s figures to get a better feel for what’s been happening in the market.
“Although 2015’s sales started off slow with a drop on 2014, in the last six months of 2015 we have seen a 3% increase on the same time in 2014.
“It’s a positive way to start the new year, with both sales on the up and insertions, so not only are we seeing increasing sales activity but increasing numbers of properties for buyers to choose from.”
In October, it was reported that property sales across Scotland reached their highest level in nearly five years.
Statistics produced by the Registers of Scotland (RoS) showed that sellers cashed in on 28,019 properties between July and September – the highest volume of sales for any quarter since the beginning of 2008.
However Aberdeenshire experienced the largest drop in market value in Scotland, with around £323million in sales between July and September – a fall of 16.6% compared to the same period last year.
By comparison, the average price in Shetland jumped by 18.4% compared to the same period last year, while in Orkney it increased by 4%.
Prices in the Western Isles rose by 8.3%, while the average price in the Highlands jumped by 2.5%. In Moray, the increase was about 1%.