Housing market continues to stutter

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by Gill Montia

The UK housing market continued to stutter during June, as demand failed to pick up and the supply of new property fell back.

According to the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), interest from potential buyers dropped off slightly last month, as did the supply of homes coming onto the market.

Newly agreed sales slowed for the third consecutive month, taking the average number of completed sales per surveyor down slightly to 15.5.

House prices across the UK continued to fall in June, with respondents giving their weakest reading on price since October 2011.

Regionally, London was once again the only part of the country to report rising prices.

Looking ahead, expectations for future house prices remained glum with more surveyors expecting prices to continue to fall rather than rise.

However, completed sales are expected to increase rather than decrease over the coming three months.

RICS chief economist, Simon Rubinsohn, comments: “Although there is some positivity that the amount of sales going through is going to see an increase, 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.”