Buy-to-let landlords lead rise in enquiries

THE ROYAL Institution of Chartered Surveyors said there was an increase in enquiries from housebuyers in September, but this was at a lower level than in the previous month.

Its UK Housing Market survey showed that 16% more chartered surveyors in the region reported an increase rather than decrease in demand, compared with a net 31% reporting an increase in buyer demand in August.

It said that more mortgage products are becoming available, but the large deposits needed by lenders to these was still a barrier for many would-be buyers.

RICS also found that fewer vendors were putting their homes on the market as fears over the economy continued to have a negative impact on prices.

The uncertainty has had a knock-on effect on sales, but with rental activity remaining strong agents are reporting an uplift in enquiries from buy-to-let landlords.

John Halman of Gascoigne Halman, who is RICS North West’s residential spokesman, said: “As a result, the investment value of properties at the lower end of the market has reached a base and prices are unlikely to reduce further in the coming months.

“Transaction numbers, however. are likely to remain subdued as vendors continue to sit tight and only an improvement in overall sentiment is likely to bring about a change in the number of houses coming to the market.”

In Liverpool, City Residential managing director Alan Bevan argued that sale prices in the city centre market dropped 0.71% during the third quarter, meaning a 5% year-on-year decline.

He said the sales market in Liverpool “continues in the doldrums, with low levels of transactions and prices continuing to stagnate/drift lower”.

He added that mortgages were becoming more affordable with several building societies offering deals including three-year fixed-rate mortgages with interest rates of just 2.99%.

Despite this, he said agents were “continuing to see a fair level of repossessions across the city, which are holding prices back for non-distressed sellers”.

Meanwhile, in the rental market the city enjoyed “huge” seasonal demand due to the new influx of students and there was a “severe” shortage of suitable stock available by the end of the quarter.

“It is difficult to gauge how many more apartments we (and the other agents) could have let, but we have conservatively estimated around 200-300 would have been let if they would have been available.”