A residential market survey published by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) revealed that a net balance of 13% more chartered surveyors reported a fall in demand in May, while 8% reported a drop in sales.

In a statement, Sarah Speirs, Director for Scotland at RICS, said: “We urge the new Scottish government to make the delivery of housing, across all tenures, a priority during their term.”

“From new supply, to improving the poor condition of the country’s existing housing stock and developing plans to bring back into use Scotland’s 27,000 long-term empty properties, more needs to be done to address the current imbalance.”

RICS partially attributed this decline to a lack of supply after a net balance of 22% of surveyors reported a decrease in new properties coming on the market.

Surveyors also expressed concern over the future impact of this slowing, with a net balance of 10% more respondents predicting house prices to fall over the coming three months.

The South looked to be worst hit by these losses, with a net balance of 43% of respondents expecting London prices to fall over the next quarter.

RICS added that the EU referendum would further add to the short-term drop in house prices.

It also noted that the rush to avoid an increase in Stamp Duty Land Tax earlier this year had contributed to the current lull.