Stamp duty reforms aid house sales
NORTH West house sales increased in December as expectations prices will rise grew for the fourth consecutive month.
That was amid optimism Stamp Duty reforms will deliver a 2.5% boost over the next 12 months.
Figures released by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in its Residential Market Survey revealed 21% of its members saw sales increase rather than fall, while 34% of respondents predicted price growth over the next three months.
Comparatively, house sales in London went down last and buyer demand fell in the capital for the eighth consecutive month.
The North West has plenty of residential properties on the market, with surveyors reporting an average of 106 homes for sale on their books.
The average number of homes sold per surveyor in the region also increased to 29 over the last three months (up from 27 in October and 28 in November).
RICS Chief Economist Simon Rubinsohn said: “The changes to stamp duty are expected to provide a timely boost to activity in the housing market across most of the country but there remain significant challenges particularly for first time buyers seeking to take an initial step onto the property ladder.
“Critically, the stock of property on the market continues to hover close to historic lows with new instructions to agents falling in 10 of the last 12 months.
“There is a risk that with so little housing available any pick-up in demand could rapidly feed through into higher prices rather higher sales.
“The RICS lead indicators do provide some encouragement that the level of housebuilding will continue to increase over the course of this year but even with further growth, the volume of home starts will still fall well short of what is required.”
