RICS predicts continued house price rises
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The Royal Instiution of Chartered Surveyors has forecast that house prices will keep rising over the next three months.
House prices continued to rise in October even though the number of properties for sale increased.
The latest housing market survey from RICS shows that the net balance of surveyors reporting rises rather than falls in house prices climbed to 34% in October from 21% in September.
RICS says this is the highest result since December 2006.
The trade body predicts that that this trend will continue in the short-term, with the net balance of surveyors expecting
prices to increase rather than decrease jumping to 31% in October, from 25% in September.
The net balance of surveyors expecting sales to increase over the next three months also edged up, going from 28% in September to 30% in October.
London has seen the most dramatic jump in prices, where the net balance of surveyors reporting price rises rather than falls reaching 95%, the highest figure since December 1996.
RICS has also noted signs that sellers are beginning to return to the market.
A net balance of 15% of surveyors reported that new instructions had increased in October, compared to 5% in September.
All regions reported a rise in instructions for the first time since the onset of the credit crunch with the North, the South West and London seeing the biggest surge in the number of properties coming on the market.
But despite rising house prices and estate agents taking on more properties, the level of new buyer enquiries dropped last month.
The net balance of surveyors reporting an increase rather than a decrease in new buyer enquiries slipped from 35% in September to 31%.
A spokesman for RICS says: “Although the supply of property is beginning to pick up, it is still insufficient to keep pace with the increase in demand which points to further prices gains in the near term.
“Cheap money remains a critical prop for the market and this is being reflected in the continuing appetite for finance from first-time buyers despite the large deposits still being demanded by lenders.”
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