Surveyors report price fall
More chartered surveyors than ever have reported negative house price growth, says a new report


The latest report from the (RICS) Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has found house price growth negative for the third month in a row: according to their latest figures 22.2% more surveyors reported a fall than a rise in house prices, down from 14.9% in September. It also found that new buyer enquiries and newly agreed sales have also fallen, although new instructions have also lessened, while the supply side of the market remains tight and continues to provide support to prices. Interest rate rises, the recent credit crunch and the subsequent tightening of lending conditions have all had an impact upon demand, says the report. New buyer enquiries fell for the 11th successive month, said surveyors, and weak demand has pushed the stock of unsold property up at the highest pace since May 2003. These factors mean market conditions are looser than they have been for over a year. Ian Perry, RICS spokesman said: ?The housing market is seeing the awaited slowdown that many had been expecting, with modest falls across most UK regions. A decline in transactions may be in the offing as stalemate returns to the market. However, things are still very different between the rest of the country and London, pointed out Mr Perry: ?Credit market turmoil has yet to put downward pressure on prices in the capital although prices have now stabilised even here,? he said. ?Significantly, London is the only region where new instructions have risen over the last two months.? Although surveyor confidence is low, some economists were quick to point out this is to be expected, and results from surveyors do not always mean falls in prices. Kelvin Davidson from Capital Economics said: ?Today?s survey from the RICS shows that the slide in the housing market continues apace. In 2004/05, of course, the RICS data were weak, but house prices didn?t fall. As such, there may well need to be several more months of depressed RICS numbers until we see material falls in house prices on all the main measures.?
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
-
Uniquely unique? The Yorkshire grain silos transformed into a home that's a symphony in glass, steel and curves
Amid the beautiful countryside of North Yorkshire, on the edge of the Castle Howard Estate, The Silos is a property for which the word 'house' simply doesn't cut it. And that's not the only way in which it's made us throw out the dictionary.
-
Polluting water executives now face up to two years in prison, but will the new laws make much of a difference?
The Government has announced that water company executives caught covering up illegal sewage spills could now be imprisoned for two years, under new laws — but many still have their doubts.