A HOUSE in the Dundee area smashed through the £1 million barrier last year and is likely to be followed by more and more over the next decade, a property expert said yesterday.

The Invergowrie house, with five public rooms and eight bedrooms, was the only domestic property to breach seven figures during 2007.

It is also understood to be only the second house in the city market to sell for over a million.

Sales of million pound properties rocketed around the country last year but in Dundee’s traditionally less-volatile housing market prices were more down to earth.

As huge price hikes in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen pushed the value of big houses skywards, the only other seven figure deals that took place in Dundee involved multiple building plots or small groups of houses sold as one transaction.

Tayside Solicitors Property Centre manager Helen Wylie said there were a number of homes in the £500,000 to just under £1 million bracket and these could be expected to starting nudging the magical barrier in coming years.

She said, “The market has settled down again after stronger price increases in recent years and there are an awful lot of homes nearing the £1 million mark.

“We don’t have a silly market here but I’d imagine that we will start seeing more houses selling for £1 million or more.

“Aside from the Invergowrie house that sold in April, the only other one we can find on our books was a house in the Perth Road that made just over £1 million in 2005 so they are still something of a rarity in this area.”

New research by the Bank of Scotland found that 343 million pound properties were sold in Scotland last year, a 138% increase on 2006.

Most were in Edinburgh (148), Glasgow had the second highest number (46) and Perth and Kinross the third (36).