Average house prices in Scotland have experienced a quarterly fall for the first time in seven years, signalling a possible end to the recent boom.

Between November 2007 and the end of January the cost of an average property fell by 1.6% to £163,211, figures published by Lloyds TSB Scotland yesterday showed.

Experts at the bank have said this points to the end of the country's property price boom, as the housing market "pauses for breath" and prices begin to level out.

The city with the largest price fall was Glasgow, where the value of properties dropped by 4.9% in the past three months, according to the bank.

This was followed by Aberdeen where prices dropped by 4.1%.

Edinburgh and Dundee saw rises of 1.5% and 0.9% and the south-west of the country also experienced a rise, of 1.4%.

But in the south-east the average quarterly price dropped by 5.4%.

The north of Scotland experienced a 2.1% decrease and in Central Scotland, Fife, Perth and Tayside, the value of homes fell by 5.5%.

Despite the quarterly results, annual house prices in Scotland increased by 14% between January 2007 and January 2008.

Lloyds TSB Scotland's chief economist, Professor Donald MacRae, said: "Though this is the first quarterly fall in Scotland's house prices for seven years, all cities and areas outside cities continue to show an annual underlying price increase.

"The market is showing sensible adjustment after years of price gains above the rate of inflation."

He added: "The prospects for the Scottish housing market are for prices to plateau out during 2008 following the significant gains in the last five years.

"The Scottish housing market is pausing for breath."

The value of flats in Scotland increased by 2.1% in the last quarter but all other property types experienced a drop in prices.

This ranged from a 1.3% decrease for detached houses to a 3% fall for both terraced houses and semi-detached houses.

Lloyds TSB said that despite the quarterly figures, all property types continued to report a "robust growth" over the last year.

This included a 12% rise for flats and 16% increase for detached houses.

Meanwhile, investors in the buy-to-let sector in Scotland saw the biggest benefits in Britain last year as rents north of the border rose by nearly 23%.

This increase is well ahead of the returns of more than 16% for the whole of the UK during 2007.

The average landlord made returns of 16.3% on their property during the year - excluding the cost of fees and mortgage interest - which went up from average returns of 13.5% in 2006, according to financial services company Birmingham Midshires.

The rise was partly driven by a 10.7% jump in house prices during the year, leaving the average investment property costing £154,795.

But the group said that most of the gains were seen during the first half of 2007, with the market becoming much more subdued during the final six months of the year as a result of the five interest rate rises seen during the previous 12 months.

Property values across Britain rose by just 1.6% during the final three months of the year, and the slowdown is expected to continue throughout 2008.