House prices in Aberdeen have risen 27% in a year

The city was the only place in Scotland to feature in the top 20 best performing towns across the UK.

Kilmarnock and Motherwell, which both saw a 25% increase in their average house price, came close behind.

Edinburgh remains the most expensive place in Scotland to buy a home, with an average price of �202,941 - up 12%.

Most expensive

Helensburgh is the second most expensive town in Scotland with an average house price of �190,005, an increase of 15% in the past 12 months.

The average price in Aberdeen rose to �171,767.

Aberdeenshire was the Scottish region with most towns and cities ranked in the Scottish top 10 best performing areas.

Inverurie and Ellon were both in the top 10 and each saw average house prices rise by 21% in 2006.

These two towns are now the third and fourth most expensive towns in Scotland.

There remains a real gap between the prices of the most and least expensive towns in Scotland Tim Crawford Bank of Scotland

Tim Crawford, group economist at Bank of Scotland, said: "The north east of Scotland has seen firm house price growth in 2006, led by Aberdeen, which has benefited from a strong local economy, especially in the energy sector.

"More generally it has been another year of above average house price growth in Scotland.

"House price growth north of the border continues to outpace the UK average and this trend is expected to continue into 2007, although the pace of house price growth in Scotland is likely to cool slightly.

"There remains a real gap between the prices of the most and least expensive towns in Scotland."

For the fourth year running, Lochgelly in Fife was the least expensive town to buy a house in both Scotland and the UK.

This is despite an 18% rise in prices in 2006, with the average price climbing from �82,297 to �96,925.