Rics: Balance between buyers and sellers shifts

Permalink: Rics: Balance between buyers and sellers shifts
by Kay Murchie

According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), there appears to be a shift in the housing market.

In the latter half of last year, house prices started to rise as a shortage of properties on the market and high demand from buyers pushed up prices.

However, this may be changing after new instructions outpaced enquires from new buyers in February, said the Rics, the second consecutive month that this has happened.

Despite this, Rics said more surveyors reported a rise in prices than falls in February.

Commenting, Rics spokesman Jeremy Leaf, said: “Most market indicators are still positive and consistent with further house price increases.

“However, the magnitude of the gains going forward is likely to continue to ease reflecting the fact that new supply coming onto the market is starting to outstrip fresh demand,” he added.

Meanwhile, the number of sales recorded by its members remained at 1.4 per week.

The Halifax and the Nationwide both reported house price falls in February, this was attributed to the wintry weather and the end of the stamp duty holiday, which prompted a rush to buy homes in December.

However, Rics expects activity to rise in the short-term and surveyors are anticipating that prices will creep up.