Ayr Racecourse, Scotland's only Grade One track, is being sold due to the falling value of the UK property market, which has hindered new developments.

The owners, Alan Macdonald and Richard Johnstone, have invested £14m since 2003 in upgrading and restoring the Ayr to ensure its long-term future. This strategy, to improve facilities and increase visitor attendance, was to be financed by residential and commercial developments to be built on surplus land held by the racecourse.

However, these development will not go ahead due to the planning process taking "considerably longer than anticipated" according to the owners. Alan Macdonald, chair of Ayr Racecourse, said that despite now having planning consent, "the property market is such that it could be a few years before the value can be realised from those consents."

As a result, the owners have appointed property agents Christie + Co to sell the long leasehold of the racecourse and the freehold to the adjacent 49-bedroom, four-star, Western House Hotel, which was opened in 2005.

As part of a regeneration masterplan, approved by South Ayrshire Council in 2005 and the Scottish Executive in May 2006, the racecourse has undergone upgrades to its Princess Royal stand, the paddock area and its hospitality facilities.

The site has also seen the creation of the Champagne Gardens in the paddock lawn and the £4.5m Ayrshire Suite Conference Centre, which opened in April 2008.

The owners have also increased the prize money for races including the two flagship fixtures the Coral Scottish Grand National Festival and the John Smith's Ayr Gold Cup Festival. All of which have helped to make attendance at the racecourse the "highest in 50 years", according to Macdonald.