The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) UK residential market survey for September revealed that surveyors gave a score of three per cent when asked about sales volumes in 12 months. This was up from a reading of negative five per cent in August, suggesting that the outlook of the market had become more favourable.
RICS said anecdotally, surveyors said the decision to hold the base rate last month had a positive impact on the mood of the market.
A subdued market
Otherwise, surveyors gave negative readings for buyer enquiries, agreed sales, new instructions and house prices.
The sentiment for new buyer enquiries generated a response score of -39 per cent in September. While this still indicated a weakened market, it was an improvement on the -46 per cent reading the month before.
Agreed sales also received a negative score of -37 per cent in September, which again was less negative than in previous months when there were readings of -46 per cent and -45 per cent in August and July respectively. Looking ahead, surveyors believe agreed sales volumes will still fall in the next three months, but this improved from a score of -24 per cent to -36 per cent.
There were fewer available homes coming to market too, as indicated by the score of -17 per cent in September.
RICS said new instructions had fallen in the last three months leaving estate agents with an average of 38 available properties on their books since July. Surveyors also said appraisals had been below normal levels and therefore did not expect supply levels to improve any time soon.
The survey’s respondents gave a score of -69 per cent when asked about house prices, suggesting declines were still being seen. This was broadly unchanged from the score of -68 per cent in August.
RICS said house price declines were seen all across the UK but decreases were more prevalent in the West Midlands and the South East.
Surveyors predicted that house prices would continue to fall in the next three months and gave a score of -48 per cent. However, this was significantly better than the -65 per cent reading given in August.
For the year ahead, -33 per cent of respondents believe house prices will continue to decline. This was a more positive outlook than the average score of -50 per cent given from June to August.
Sturdy tenant demand
A net balance of 43 per cent of survey respondents said tenant demand for rental properties had increased in September. This was at the same time as a decline in landlord instructions, which generated a score of -24 per cent to suggest that there was still a lack of rental supply.
Because of this imbalance, surveyors said they expected rental prices to rise by around five per cent over the next 12 months.
* RICS survey statistics are presented as scores between negative 100 and 100, with negative scores implying a decline, and positive readings suggesting an increase.
