PROPERTY prices are on the up in Dunfermline and West Fife.

The ESPC House Price Report for September revealed a rise of 8.1 per cent in Dunfermline compared to the same period last year with the average home now costing £192,479.

West Fife and Kinross saw a 9.1 per cent jump with the average price of a home now £201,030, compared to £184,256 between July and September 2020.

Across Edinburgh, Lothians, Fife and the Borders, the average price went up by four per cent to £275,714.

The report said the most affordable property type was in Dunfermline, where one-bedroom flats sold for an average of £75,070.

With a competitive market during July to September, buyers across the region were bidding an average of 106.5 per cent of Home Report valuation to secure their chosen homes, three per cent more than last year.

A higher volume of lower-priced properties came onto the market with the average Home Report valuation down by 4.8 per cent.

A total of 37.6 per cent of homes went to a closing date during July-September 2021; up from 27.8 per cent in 2020.

Across the region, there was a median selling time of 14 days, seven days quicker than last year.

In West Fife and Kinross, homes were on the market for the median time of just 10 days, half the time they took to sell in 2020.

The fastest median selling time was just seven days, which applies to two-bedroom flats in Dalkeith, four-bedroom houses in Dunfermline and two-bedroom houses in Tranent.

There was yet another increase in the volume of property sales across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders, rising 45.4 per cent year-on-year.

However, this may be affected by buyers being cautious during the early part of July-September 2020, as lockdown restrictions and schemes such as mortgage holidays and the furlough scheme were still in place.

The demand has been intensified by a reduced number of properties coming to the market, down 31.1 per cent year-on-year.

The figures for 2021 were 2.18 per cent above the levels in 2019, suggesting that the market is beginning to return to more normal levels.

Dunfermline had the highest volume of properties listed for sale but this figure was down 39.7 per cent on the levels seen in 2020.

Paul Hilton, CEO of ESPC, said it had been another busy quarter for the property market with increasing buyer demand in evidence across most of our markets.

“Unsurprisingly, we’re continuing to see that homes in Edinburgh’s suburbs and more rural regions outside of the capital, such as Fife and East Lothian, are the most in-demand, as buyers look for properties that can offer flexibility in the longer term," he said.

“The volume of available properties is returning to where we would have expected to see them pre-pandemic; however, with more buyers searching for homes and less availability on the market, we can expect this to impact average selling prices, the amount over Home Report valuation properties will attain and the speed at which homes go under offer.

“However, there are higher levels of more affordable homes on the market, meaning that there are still plenty of options for first-time buyers."