A NEW report on house values has revealed rocketing prices in East Renfrewshire, while neighbouring Renfrewshire suffers a property slump.

Latest figures released by leading estate agents Your Move shows the average property in the Barrhead area enjoyed the third-highest rise in Scotland last year.

Prices were up by almost nine per cent, with the average cost approaching £249,000.

The rise in East Renfrewshire was surpassed only by Argyll and Bute, which recorded a 9.7 per cent increase, and Dundee, where prices were up by 9.2 per cent. By contrast, average house prices in Renfrewshire last year were down by 1.3 per cent to £130, 860.

The figures from Your Move also show that average prices for properties in both East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire fell slightly in January this year – down 1.2 per cent and two per cent respectively.

By contrast, exactly half of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas saw prices rise in January.

These were led by Inverclyde, which recorded a 5.3 per cent increase in values.

In January, the average home in Scotland was worth £171,407 – a rise of just 0.1 per cent.

Nationally last year, average prices rose by £2,600 – equivalent to annual growth of 1.5 per cent.

Experts at Your Move say that, despite concerns over the Brexit vote that will see Britain quitting the European Union, there has been little impact on house prices nationally since people went to the polls in June last year, with fairly steady, but modest, increases reported.

Annual growth in property prices is 0.5 per cent higher than this time last year but, across the country, Your Move found mixed results.

In contrast to elsewhere in the UK, higher-priced properties continue to see the strongest growth in Scotland.

Christine Campbell, managing director for Your Move in Scotland, said: “Relatively slow house price growth in Scotland is proving to be a blessing for first-time buyers.

“The early indications are that they’re using the opportunity to get on the ladder, helping to sustain transaction numbers.

“It will be interesting to see how talks of another Scottish referendum play out and whether or not it has an impact on buyer and seller appetite to make a move now, or indeed, in the future.”

Alan Penman, business development manager for Walker Fraser Steele, which is one of Scotland’s oldest firms of chartered surveyors and part of the LSL group of companies, added: “The fortunes of Scotland’s premium areas highlight a striking contrast to elsewhere in Britain.

“Interest rate cuts last summer reinvigorated top-end sales and higher priced areas continue to drive price growth.”