Little Change In Housing Market In May

The outright declines in the interest of new buyers in purchasing a home showed signs of stabilising in May, in the wake of the decision to extend the deadline for withdrawal from the EU till the end of October, according to the latest RICS UK Residential Market Survey. Alongside this, the negative trends in agreed sales, prices and new instructions also all showed some signs of easing, at least at the headline level. Read more on the RICS website.

https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/research/market-surveys/uk-residential-market-survey/may-2019/

Further Fall In Housing Stock As Demand Also Falls For The Eleventh Month

Continuing a prevalent trend; new buyer enquiries, new instructions and newly-agreed sales continued to drift lower in February. New buyer enquiries fell for an eleventh successive month with 16% more respondents seeing a fall rather than rise in enquiries. Meanwhile, the number of agreed sales also remains slightly negative (net balance -17%), similar to figures seen over the last six months. There continue to be significant regional variation in the results however, and new buyer enquiries continued to increase (taking a three-month average) in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Yorkshire and Humberside in February. Read more on the RICS website.

http://www.rics.org/uk/news/news-insight/press-releases/further-fall-in-housing-stock-as-demand-also-falls-for-eleventh-month/

Activity Drops Amid Price Increases

The UK housing market continues to lack momentum in September, as demand from new buyers and sales fall again and the shift in interest rate expectations contributes to buyer caution in a slowing market, according to the September RICS UK Residential Market Survey. Survey in brief:

·         Buyer enquiries and sales balances slip back a little further in September.

·         National price balance still marginally positive, but London and the South East return weaker readings.

·         Expectations point to a subdued near-term outlook for both prices and sales.

Download the survey from the RICS website.

Uncertainty Continues To Stifle The Housing Market

House price inflation dropped further in June, according to the latest RICS UK Residential Market Survey. At the same time there's little encouragement for sales activity with agreed sales declining alongside new buyer enquiries and new instructions. This trend is also being reflected in medium term sales expectations where the twelve month indicator, while still positive, has slipped to its lowest level since the immediate aftermath of the referendum [net balance of +12%]. Download the survey from the RICS website.

House Prices Pause For Breath Post-Brexit

The UK housing market paused for breath after the Brexit vote, but could take off again over the next 12 months, a poll of surveyors suggests. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) survey showed house price rises slowed significantly in the three months to the end of July. The surveyors said new buyer inquiries, home sales and new instructions all fell over the period. However, the Rics survey suggests that house price inflation could accelerate within a year. A month ago - in the wake of the EU vote - surveyors were evenly divided about whether prices would rise or fall over the next 12 months. Now, by a majority of 23%, most of them expect prices to go up. Read more on the Rics website.

Demand For Retirement Homes In UK Slows

The uptake of retirement housing in the UK softened in the second quarter of this year as many downsizers paused plans ahead of the European Union referendum vote, according to the latest quarterly review. Overall new buyer registrations for retirement properties slipped by over 20% from the first quarter to 4,744, a 30% fall on the same period last year, as uncertainty before the referendum slowed the market. However, the data from retirement property specialist Retirement Homesearch, also shows that the number of property viewings at 2,974 and instructions at 513 remained steady on first quarter numbers, showing that registered buyers are still actively looking to downsize.  Read more on the Property Wire website.