Surveyors predict house price fall as supply rises

THE number of houses coming on to the market has outstripped demand for the second consecutive month, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
 
Its UK housing market survey found this national trend was reflected in Yorkshire where there was a “significant increase” in new homes up for sale.
 
More surveyors now expect prices to drop in the next three months but the majority predict little change.
 
RICS said interest from new buyers had risen significantly in Yorkshire and more surveyors have reported newly agreed sales or are expecting an increase in instructions.
 
Jennifer Welch, operations director for RICS Yorkshire and Humberside,
said: “Increasing numbers of instructions to sell is a positive sign for
the region’s housing market which was in danger of becoming inflated by
more demand than supply. We expect activity to increase further as we
head towards and through Easter, a traditionally busy period for the
housing sector.”
 
Across the UK, new instruction and new buyer enquiries rebounded in
February following a dip in January.

RICS said surveyors in the regions are still reporting house price gains in most areas but the net balances are a little less positive.  However, surveyors in the North, Yorkshire and Humberside, Wales and the West Midlands are reporting house price falls.