10
Nov
House prices 'to keep on rising'
House prices are likely to keep on rising for the time being,
says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).
Its latest monthly survey shows that sellers are now beginning
to return to the property market.
But they are still being outweighed by the number of potential
buyers registered with estate agents.
In October, the balance of surveyors reporting price rises
rather than falls rose to 34%, up from 20% in September.
Rics said this was the strongest survey result in favour of
rising prices since December 2006.
"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," said Jeremy Leaf
of Rics.
"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," he added.
Rising prices
According to surveys from lenders such as the Nationwide and the
Halifax, house prices across the UK have been rising briskly since
the spring.
This was supported by the latest house price survey from the
Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
It showed that in September UK house prices rose by 1.2%, the
fourth monthly increase in a row.
Prices, says the DCLG, now average £199,303 across the
country.
Although they are still 4.1% lower than a year ago, they have
rebounded since the spring and are now 6% up from May this
year.
Commentators have explained this by pointing to a dearth of
people putting their homes up for sale, even though the number of
potential buyers has been restricted since 2007 by the continuing
rationing of available mortgages because of the continuing effects
of the international credit crunch.
More sales
The Rics survey said London was leading the way in terms of
price rises, with a balance of 95% of estate agents in the capital
reporting that prices were going up rather than down.
That was the strongest survey result for London since December
1996.
The balance of those surveyors across the UK reporting an
increase in instructions from would-be sellers has risen from just
5% in September to 15% in October.
Rics said this upward trend in sales instructions had occurred
in all regions, particularly in the North of England, the South
West and in London.
Completed sales have continued to rise slowly to an average of
19 per surveyor over the past three months - although that still
amounts to just under three sales every two weeks.
"The most recent survey provided further evidence that activity
levels also continue to improve, albeit at a slightly slower pace
than in previous months [but] a shortage of supply still seems to
be limiting activity in the housing market," said Rics.
Richard Evans of Colleys surveyors in Exeter said: "Competition
amongst buyers for a small supply of properties for sale is
continuing to drive asking prices and values up."
Keith Barnfield of Barnfields in Enfield said the past few weeks
had been very busy.
"Transaction numbers are back up to 2006 levels - the
comparative shortage of supply is continuing to promote buyer
competition," he said.
source: www.bbc.co.uk/news Tuesday 10th
November 2009