The average house price in December was 0.2% lower than the previous month.
Scottish house prices have declined steadily since April 2010 and have dropped 2% since.
Despite the fall in prices, transactions were up 2.5% compared to November.
Richard Sexton, director of e.surv chartered surveyors, said: “Prices fell marginally in December but no further than you’d expect in the normal seasonal downturn.
“Credit should go to mortgage lenders who have done their best to sustain lending.
“They have operated astutely and picked their battles carefully, pushing out a raft of higher loan-to-value mortgages last summer, which has increased the trickle of first-time buyers to a more steady flow.
“Although first-time buyer numbers are still depressed by historic standards, this has prevented prices from falling more sharply and has had a knock on effect of galvanizing the higher echelons of the Scottish market.”
But Sexton added it would not last forever and if the economy slips into recession, the pace of decline would increase.
“Buyers are understandably unsure which direction the economy will take, which will encourage more of them to sit tight during 2012,” he said.
“And the banks are terrified by the prospect of a further downturn in the eurozone, which will feed through into the mortgage market.
“This fear has already begun to manifest itself in the form of higher rates, and is sure to mean a drop in net lending over the coming months.”
