The market survey reports a net balance of 55 per cent of Scottish respondents anticipating sales to increase over the next three months, while a net balance of 10 per cent anticipated that prices will continue rising through the last quarter of the year.

According to the survey, this comes after a largely unpromising few months in activity.

A net balance of -2 per cent of Scottish respondents reported that new instructions to sell dropped, and a net balance of -18 per cent reported that newly agreed sales had decreased, in the September report.

This mirrors the UK-wide picture for September, where anticipations of an increase in interest rates prompted a decreased level of agreed sales last month.

But in Scotland, underlying demand seemed to be relatively strong, even if this has not prompted a rise in agreed sales.

A net balance of 36 per cent of Scottish respondents said that there was an increase in the amount of new buyer enquiries in September, showing a rise from the net balance reported in the survey from August.

A net balance of 13 per cent of Scottish respondents reported that prices increased over the past three months - an increase from the net balance of 6 per cent reported in the August survey.

Discussing the UK-wide picture, RICS head of market research and analysis, Tarrant Parsons, said: “A renewed rise in interest rate expectations has created a fresh headwind for the housing market, with buyers becoming a little more cautious and sales activity losing some momentum this month.

“Even so, the latest results do not point to any significant shift in direction.”

Mr Parsons added: “Rather, they suggest the market may need to contend with a somewhat longer period of subdued activity as households adjust to the prospect of borrowing costs remaining higher than previously anticipated.”