Average house prices have now fallen for 6 consecutive months and December alone saw £1,000 wiped off the average house price in Scotland.
Richard Sexton, director of e.surv chartered surveyors, said: “Tough mortgage lending criteria and public sector austerity bit the Scottish housing market hard last year.”
The index suggests that a lack of first-time buyers is the root cause of the Scottish markets malaise.
The data also revealed considerable regional variations between prices throughout the country.
Prices in Edinburgh plummeted by £16,658 annually while they increased by £2,831 in Aberdeen City.
Sexton said; “There is plenty of regional variation. Despite the sharp fall in the national average house price in 2012, prices have risen in almost one in four local authority areas.
“Better days should lie ahead in 2013. Lower house prices mean smaller deposits, which will inch some buyers closer to owning their first home.
“South of the border, mortgage rates for new buyers have fallen to historic lows and there is a much wider range of mortgages to choose from, which gave the market a leg-up on the way to a bumper January.
“Scottish buyers will be hoping for something similar in the coming months.”
