Region’s house prices on the rise

House prices across the West Midlands housing market have shown continued signs of stabilisation as new buyer enquiries picked-up.

According to the latest results of the monthly RICS UK Residential Market Survey, in June, house prices in the region rose for the fourth consecutive month, with +23% of respondents reporting a rise in prices.

Comparatively, house prices in London, the South East and East of England continue to fall with most other parts of the country showing house price growth.

Fewer respondents reported a fall in the number of new enquiries from buyers last month too, with the indicator moving from -38% to -17% – this is the most positive net balance since the beginning of the year.

Despite the improved interest from potential buyers, stock levels on West Midlands’ estate agents’ books are still around record lows, and appraisals are lower now than at this time last year. As the number of new properties being listed for sale also continue to fall it remains to be seen if there will be a material impact on the supply issue.

The newly agreed sales net balance improved slightly in the month of June and sales expectations for the coming three months suggest it is likely to continue in the short term.

Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, said: “The latest data provides further evidence of the sales market settling down but I don’t get the impression from the insight provided by contributors that this is fuelling hope of a significantly more active market going forward. Many of the factors that have provided a challenge during the first half of the year remain unresolved.

“Meanwhile feedback on the lettings market continues to highlight the impact of the policy changes announced in recent years. Build to Rent should in time help take up some of the slack in parts of the country but the RICS indicators capturing rent expectations suggests there is no expectation this will be the case anytime soon.”