IS CHRISTMAS time ''bargain time''? Generally speaking, no. Your average retailer would be crazy to bring prices down when it's a well known fact that millions of us will be - and already are - running around daft snapping up anything that winks at us, all in a desperate bid to get through our lengthy yuletide shopping lists.

On the other hand if you are looking for a new home put aside those momentous decisions about whether Auntie Jean really would appreciate a Spice Girls T-shirt (not to mention the battery powered nutcracker for Uncle Hugh) and cast your bargain hunter's eye over what Scotland's housebuilders have on offer. For in the run up to Christmas, there are big discounts, cash back schemes, part exchanges, fixed rate and subsidised mortgages, free carpets and curtains etc, among a host of money saving incentives that are rarely - if ever - available at any other time of the year.

Housebuilders, to let you understand, are a very tidy breed of people and because December marks the end of the financial year for most of them (and how very logical to have it then, rather than in April which doesn't seem to make any sense at all except that it would be hellish to have to sort out your accounts and cook a turkey at the same time) they like, where possible to wind up existing developments, get their books balanced and be ready to start afresh in January. The result is that, at this time of year, many companies will set some very attractive incentives on the table in a bid to get those last few houses and ex-showhomes occupied.

So where hunting for a new house is concerned, if it's Christmas time, it is bargain time, provided - and this is of paramount importance - you can get all the legal business wrapped up by December 19 which is the cut off date that usually applies to these special offers (but this can vary so check with the individual builder).

A spokesperson for McLean Homes said: ''It's a buyers market at this time of year. The bargain hunters know they are in a strong position and that they may be able to negotiate even more favourable terms than the ones advertised.

''We're offering substantial discounts on a number of properties including a four-bedroom ex-showhome villa at Rannoch Wood in New Stevenston, Lanarkshire, which is all done up in designer colours, has an en suite bathroom, downstairs WC, garage, back and front gardens already planted and lots of other extras including carpets, curtains, light fittings etc, all for #85,000.''

Barratt West Scotland have come up with a wide range of incentives to tempt Christmas time house buyers including #99 down, legal fees and mortgage interest paid (until November '98) on some one and two bedroom flats in Larbert. A particularly attractive package of money saving offers applies to certain properties at selected Falkirk, Gorebridge and Livingston developments. These include free and confidential on site advice about mortgages, first time buying and the company's Full Value Home Exchange scheme plus carpets, curtains, light fittings... and even a Christmas turkey which, a Barratt spokesperson pointed out, you'll have to roast yourself.

Laing Homes say they are offering home buyers not Christmas ''packages'' but Christmas presents. The gifts include a substantial #5000 cash back or discount on the last remaining three bedroom riverside apartment at their luxury Festival Park development in Glasgow. That means you can either have the property for #115,000 or pay the full whack and then get handed a check for #5000. Call me crazy but I

know which option I'd take. Imagine having all that lovely cash to spend on Christmas presents.

The cash back offer applies to a number of other Laing sites including Quayside Crescent in Yoker, Glasgow, where one bedroom flats are priced at #39,250. The cash back is #2300 or you can choose, instead, to have your 5% deposit paid or to have the flat carpeted and furnished for free (right down to the knives and forks - but bring your own toothbrush).

Tay Homes are offering only a few very special properties in their buy in time for Christmas scheme this year. These include two bedroom luxury apartments (fully carpeted) at The Crescents in East Kilbride, priced from #94,950 but available at a subsidised mortgage fixed at 3.99% until 1999. At Tay's exclusive Old Oak Gate development in Hamilton, there are six apartment luxury villas with double garage available for #205,000. Okay, so that's not chicken feed - or even turkey feed - but to lighten the stressload, Tay are offering a part-exchange option.

A company spokesperson explained: ''If you haven't already sold your present home - and it doesn't matter if it's a Victorian property or a modern one - we will survey it for you and, if it's approved, make you an offer based on its current market value and set that price against your new Tay home which could be yours within just seven days.''

Bellway Homes, who have developments on more than a dozen sites in areas such as Paisley, East Kilbride, Clydebank, and Moodiesburn with prices starting as low as #63,500 for three and four bedroom houses, are being so flexible with their Christmas incentives that a spokesperson advises prospective buyers to ''choose your property, then go into the sales office and see what's on offer. Cash back may be available but you might prefer the deposit paid option or to negotiate for something like free carpets, an electric shower - as one couple did recently - or a turfed lawn.''

Miller's special Christmas discounts on selected properties are so generous, folk who had only dreamed of buying a new house might discover they can actually afford to do so - provided all the legal paperwork can be sorted out by December 19.

Offers include a four bedroom detached villa at Dalnottar Park, Old Kilpatrick, priced at #99,995 but with a choice of either ''up to #10,000'' off or a part exchange deal whereby Miller buy your existing home (subject to approval) and you pay the difference.

Beazer Homes will knock thousands off the price of a hand picked selection of attractive properties, as long as ''all the legalities'' are sorted out by December 19.

''You don't actually have to have moved in before Christmas,'' a spokesperson explained, ''but you have to have the keys. Many people who buy at this time of year like to spend Christmas day where they are, then move into their new home the week after.''

Beazer bargains include a #59,795 two bedroom semi detached at Rankin Rise in Greenock (built on the site of a former maternity hospital which is kind of appropriate at Christmas) going for #49,995; #5000 off selected properties in Regent's Park, Thornliebank (near Glasgow's Burrell Museum) and Hunterfield, Cambuslang, plus a two bedroom ex-view flat at Sunnyside Court, Coatbridge with carpets, curtains, light fittings, oven, hob, hood, washer/drier, going for #43,995.

Bett Homes have introduced a number of attractive incentives in the run up to Christmas. These include six months mortgage interest free for loans up to #75,000 and part exchange deals.

Cala reckon their houses really come into their own at this time of the year because most of them have proper chimneys and as it says in their ads ''you never know who's going to drop in''.

And if the thought of toasting your toes in front of a real fire isn't enough incentive, Cala are making part exchange available on a number of selected properties including four and five bedroom detached houses in Robertsons Field, Alloway (from #176,000) and one and two bedroom apartments (from #46,000 some with carpets and curtains) and three and four bedroom detached houses (from #95,500) in Maxwellton, Paisley.

To those of you who are not just tempted by these festive incentives but actually decide to go ahead and buy a house before Christmas, remember the words of the fabulously funny Marx Brothers and as you prepare to sign the contract, be sure to ask if there is, indeed, a ''Sanity Clause''.