HOUSE buyers are having to pay more than £10,000 over the asking price on average to secure their dream home , according to new research.
In further bad news for young families trying to get on the property ladder, the 'reality gap' between the asking price and what buyers have to pay being pushed up by demand on a limited housing supply.
It follows reports that the 'baby boom' generation have become property millionaires while causing gridlock in the property market by staying put in largely empty family homes instead of downsizing.
According to the property website S1homes, the biggest reality gap in Scotland is being applied to flats, which routinely go for £27,000 more than the stated price.
This is followed by terraced houses, which sell for £21,000 more, and semi-detached properties where buyers have to fork out £10,000 more than the stated price.
Detached properties tendedto sell for 11 per cent less than their asking price last year.
READ MORE: Housing in gridlock as baby boomers stall the market
Ewan Stark, Managing Director, of s1homes said: “The demand for properties in Scotland has driven up the selling price across Scotland, more notably at the lower end of the market.
"We fully expect the demand to continue to produce a competitive property market throughout 2018.”
S1homes Regional analysis found that house still sell for under the asking price in Argyll & Bute, East Renfrewshire and West Lothian.
The biggest reverse gap was in Argyll & Bute, where buyers can purchase a property for 9 per cent (£15,000) below the asking price.
However, in Edinburgh properties sold for around £22,000 more than their asking price Glasgow ended the year with buyers having to shell out £30,000 more than the asking price to secure a property.
The growth in the reality gap comes amid ongoing property price rises, according to property website Rightmove, which recorded record activity at the start of 2018.
It said the average asking price across Britain in February is £300,001, having increased by 0.8 per cent or £2,414 month-on-month.
All nations and regions across Britain saw a month-on-month increase in asking prices in February, apart from the South West of England, which recorded a marginal fall of £131.
READ MORE: Home ownership for middle-income young 'has collapsed'
READ MORE: Highest prices for a decade due to West End housing stock shortage
Rightmove found that homes in Livingston in West Lothian were selling after just 17 days while Falkirk was identified as the next biggest hotspot, with homes there taking 20 days to sell on average.
Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said of the website: "January was its busiest month ever with home - hunters spending over 1.1 billion minutes on the site."
But he said of February's uplift in asking prices: "This month's rise of 0.8 per cent is well below the 1.6 per cent monthly average at this time of year over the last 10 years, and it is wise for sellers to be cautious and not to over-price given stretched buyer affordability."
David Plumtree, Connells group estate agency chief executive, said: "With our branches reporting brisk activity from January 2, we have seen new instructions, applicant registrations and viewing activity all exceed the levels achieved in January 2017.
"Within this, first-time buyers are continuing the trend that we've seen since the announcement of the stamp duty changes, with registrations up 11 per cent on January 2017."
He continued: "We do expect market conditions to show continued improvement during the first quarter."
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