It looks like East Anglia has become the latest property hotspot, with house prices rising faster than in London, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) residential market survey.
The monthly report revealed that while price growth in London appears to be diminishing, the value of property reportedly rising in the rest of the UK, with East Anglia, the South East and the East Midlands leading the way.
The monthly RICS survey is based on responses of 550 estate agents across England and Wales.
East Anglia saw the largest price rise with 67% of RICs members reporting a net increase.
Respondents in East Anglia are also the most confident about price growth in the next 12 months. This is despite 42% of those questioned in this area already viewing house prices as expensive.
The number of available properties for sale in the UK was down for the tenth month in a row, with 8% more respondents reporting a decrease in new homes coming on to the market.
RICS said that price growth appears to be moderating in London, where for the fourth month running the net balance of respondents reported a drop.
The report said that the slowdown in price growth in the prime end of the market was attributable to the “punitive” changes to stamp duty introduced at the end of last year.
The outlook for the UK remains positive, with a net balance of 47% of survey respondents expecting activity to rise in the coming months, up from 34% in October.
The report said that the housing shortage continues to drive property prices upwards, with the new policies announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Statement likely to exacerbate the problem.
Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS, said: “I can’t recall a set of comments in the residential survey which have so frequently drawn attention to lack of stock on the market. Given this, it’s hard not to envisage prices continuing to climb upwards as we move through the early stages of 2016.
“It remains to be seen how successful the government’s latest set of initiatives will be in driving up the rate of new build but with the best will in the world, it is likely that the boost to demand will come through rather more rapidly than the expansion of the development pipeline.”
Andy Sommerville, director of Search Acumen, said: “Prices slowing down in London offers a breather for homebuyers, but it’s worrying to see the problem of unaffordability is spreading to the capital’s commuter belt, including the South East and East Anglia, and even beyond. We can also expect to see a surge in prices in the run up to April, when stamp duty reforms for buy-to-let investors will come into force, with the hope this doesn’t put a dampener on activity in the second quarter of next year once the reforms have been introduced.
“With the traditional Christmas lull setting in, we shouldn’t be too concerned about the current seasonal lack of stock, however. 2016 promises plenty of new homes coming on to the market, with housebuilders boosted by the government’s Help to Buy initiatives.”
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