LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - Nationwide and Cheltenham & Gloucester have become the latest British lenders to trim their mortgage rates, reflecting a slight easing in wholesale borrowing costs.

It's a "buyer's market" in housing in East Central Scotland - and that's official.

Following several years in which demand has continually outstripped supply,

second-quarter statistics, just released by the Edinburgh Solicitors' Property Centre (ESPC), provide clear evidence of the extent to which the market has cooled over the last three months.

Whilst the average price of a property across the region continued to show modest growth of 3.1per cent, the number of completed sales fell by some 40 per cent.

And with the same number of properties coming onto the market as in previous years but sales volumes falling, the number of properties available for sale has risen by over 50 per cent.

The number of properties on the market today ­ at over 6100 - compares with 4000 in the second quarter of 2007.

The average price of a property in Fife & Kinross rose by 5.3 per cent year-on-year during the second quarter of 2008, taking the average price of a property in the region to £155,835.

In Dunfermline an annual rise of just 1.3 per cent took the average price in the town to £153,887, while in Kirkcaldy the average price of a property rose by 3.2 per c ent and now stands at £159,919.

The number of sales completed in Fife & Kinross during the second quarter was down by 40 per cent compared with 2007 levels.

The ESPC says that at present buyers are unwilling to meet sellers' expectations on prices, and a number of sellers have been happier to leave their home on the market than accept a lower bid which has resulted in the downturn in volumes. A spokesman said, "We are now in a buyer's market for the first time in a number of years, with a far wider selection of property available. ESPC currently has around 50% more properties available for sale in Fife & Kinross than at this point last year. The total of 6100 properties

ESPC currently had for sale across the whole of East Central Scotland in June was the highest on record."