Its latest property index revealed that 22% more chartered surveyors reported a fall in house prices rather than a rise in July.

While this was up from 26% in June, the reports have now remained negative for more than a year, RICS said, and expectations for house prices remain pessimistic.

It found 13% more surveyors expect house prices will fall rather than rise in the next three months.

In addition, new property instructions fell in July following a slight upturn at the beginning of the summer, with 7% more respondents seeing a fall in houses coming up for sale.

RICS said that a significant factor behind this is that potential sellers are unwilling to accept lower selling prices and are therefore reluctant to put their house up for sale.

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Surveyors’ sales expectations were more upbeat, with 15% more expecting house sales to rise over the next quarter, but interest from potential buyers remains relatively flat.

RICS revealed that the average number of sales per surveyor over the last three months fell to 14.2, the lowest since June 2009, while the number of properties on surveyors’ books rose to 70.2 from 69.7 in June.

Nevertheless, London continues to buck the national trend, with 30% more surveyors reporting house price rises than falls.

By comparison, the West Midlands and the East of England saw 44% and 40% more surveyors report house price falls respectively.

RICS spokesperson Ian Perry said: “The UK housing market continued to stall during July; prices edged lower and sales levels remained subdued.

“While the holiday season appears to have had some impact on the market, the continual problem of inaccessible mortgage finance is still preventing first-time buyers from accessing the market.

“Unsurprisingly, with prices continuing to fall, many would-be sellers seem unwilling to lower their expectations and are reluctant to place their property on the market.”