Housing market activity has struggled since the expiry of the stamp duty holiday back in March according to a market expert.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ June Housing Market Survey data claims that demand failed to pick up and supply of new property fell back.
Interest from potential buyers dropped off slightly last month, with a net balance of 10 per cent more chartered surveyors reporting a fall in new buyer enquiries. New homes coming onto the market fell back for the second successive month.
Newly agreed sales in June have slowed for three consecutive months with 12 per cent more surveyors across the UK reporting falls rather than rises. The average number of completed sales per surveyor over the previous three months fell fractionally to 15.5.
House prices
House prices across the UK continued to fall last month, with 22 per cent more surveyors reporting price falls rather than rises, the weakest reading since October 2011.
Regionally, London was once again the only part of the country to report rising prices, although the pace of increase has slowed significantly since the start of the year.
Future house prices
Looking ahead, expectations for future house prices showed little change as a net balance of 19 per cent more surveyors expect prices to continue to fall. In spite of this, however, there is considerably more optimism surrounding transaction levels, with 11 per cent more respondents predicting sales to increase rather than decrease over the coming three months.
Fewer vendors looked to test the market and levels of buyer interest seem to have fallen back since the expiry of the stamp duty deadline earlier in the year.
Although there is some positivity that the amount of sales going through is going to see an increase, RICS says it is unlikely that we will see any real movement until purchasing a property is more affordable and accessible for the likes of first time buyers.
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