AN INVERCLYDE property expert is today urging caution over figures which claim a 16 per cent rise in property prices in the district.

Senior conveyancing solicitor Harry Gray was responding to statistics published yesterday by LSL Property Services and house price specialists Acadata, which point to a big rise in prices across Inverclyde.

Mr Gray, of legal firm Blair and Bryden, says that the recent construction of high value new homes in the likes of Inverkip has skewed the overall picture.

He told the Telegraph: “There has not been a 16 per cent increase across the board, but I would say that the local housing market has steadied.

“In Inverclyde you still have property for sale at around £35,000 with the average around £150,000, but if you throw in a few in Inverkip above that mark then you can see how you have to be very careful in how you interpret the figures.” Both firms behind the new stats said that high-end sales in Kilmacolm — where some homes are on the market for more than a million pounds — and Inverkip had boosted the average.

The new report also showed that Inverclyde recorded the largest increase in house sales over the last 12 months, with semi-detached and terraced properties said to be most popular.

Mr Gray agreed that the local property market is on the rise.

He told the Tele: “The builders are starting to build again and the market is getting better with more mortgages going through and the banks lending.

“But if you build a number of houses in, say, Inverkip ranging in price between £200,000 and £300,000 that gives you an artificial increase in prices overall.” Mr Gray added that while things ‘are improving’, the average house price increase could be more accurately viewed in ‘single digit’ terms.

He said: “It obviously varies across the area.” Nationally, average house prices across Scotland are said to have risen by 3.6 per cent in the past year, with more first-time buyers fuelling growth.