John Bennett, senior partner with Dundee-based chartered surveyors J & E Shepherd, told the Tele today the housing scene locally was “frantic”.

“I’ve never known anything like it in the 35 years or so I’ve been involved in the sector in the city,” he commented. “There’s nothing sticking. Everything that goes on to the market seems to be getting snapped up.

“There are a lot of people after property and there’s not enough to satisfy demand.”

Mr Bennett said that in a city where the average price for a house had topped the £100,000 mark for the first time earlier this year, some of the prices being paid were now “quite staggering”.

“For example, a one-bedroom flat in the Baldovan Terrace area, which would have fetched £35,000 to £40,000 a couple of years ago, sold the other day for over £93,000,” he said. “It’s astonishing.

“Also, before, the number of £300,000-plus properties coming on the market would have been limited. Now there are more and more homes in this price range on sale.

“I’ve been telling people for the two years or so that the bubble would burst in Dundee, but so far there’s no real sign of that. We’ve never been busier.”

Mr Bennett said despite the city’s population having fallen substantially in recent years, a number of factors had contributed to the house price boom.

Significant among these was a surge in demand in the buy-to-let sector, with buyers from far outwith the city being attracted by what were relatively low property prices.

Competition for properties has, as a consequence, seen prices pushed higher and higher.

Mr Bennett said there has been a change in the shape of the housing market in Dundee, too. More people choosing to live alone, families splitting up and many first-time buyers opting to enter the market by purchasing a family home, had also created demand.

“Although the previous under-provision of new, larger family homes required to meet demand from academics and other professionals has been met, demand for other new-build properties is still unbelievably high,” said Mr Bennett.

“Mid-sized family homes are being snapped up almost as soon as they are announced. I’ve never known new housing to sell so quickly.”

However, Mr Bennett also warned that despite the current prices boom showing no significant signs of cooling locally, buyers should still exercise caution in their spending.

“Obviously interest rates have been low for some time and banks and building societies have been fighting it out for customers by offering what would seem to be crazy deals, but things do go in cycles,” he said.

“If the pendulum swings the other way and interest rates rise, some buyers could find themselves seriously over-stretched.”