New research indicates that some 15.8 per cent of young, working households in Scotland are priced out of the property market.

The study, called Can't Buy: Can Rent - the affordability of private housing in Great Britain, was compiled for property data group Hometrack and suggests that high house prices and rising interest rates are limiting access to the housing market.

Commenting on the data, Hometrack's director of research Richard Donnell attributed the affordability problems that many first-time buyers face to an "unbalanced and inflexible" supply of homes which has led to "high entry costs" for housing.

He noted that while the government has outlined new targets for the creation of new houses, the research emphasises the importance of developing appropriate forms of housing "in the right forms of tenure".

According to the Nationwide Building Society quarterly regional house price report, the average house price in Scotland currently stands at £152,479.