Supply rise fails to halt house price surge
House prices are continuing to rise despite more homes coming onto the market, the professional body for surveyors has said.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said 34 per cent of the members they surveyed reported price rises in October – the highest figure since December 2006 and an increase of 13 per cent since September. In London, 95 per cent of surveyors reported price rises – the highest number since December 1996.
The proportion of surveyors reporting an increase in homes coming onto the market tripled from 5 per cent in September, in the RICS UK housing survey. All regions reported an increase in homes for sale for the first time since the start of the credit crunch.
Sales also rose with 19 sales per surveyor. The number of sales in relation to unsold stock also rose.
The pace of increase in buyer interest continued to slow with a 4 per cent drop in the number of surveyors seeing a growth in new buyer enquiries. But only East Anglia saw an overall fall in buyer enquiries and interest remained strongest in London.
Jeremy Leaf, chair of RICS residential faculty, said: ‘Although the supply of property is beginning to pick-up, it is still insufficient to keep pace with the increase in demand which points to further prices gains in the near term.
‘Cheap money remains a critical prop for the market and this is being reflected in the continuing appetite for finance from first-time buyers despite the large deposits still being demanded by lenders.’
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Readers' comments (2)
Bernard Townroe | 10/11/2009 9:18 am
Oh dear. It doesn't matter how hard you try but gravity will always win in the end. 'No more boom and bust.........' Yeah. This couldn't fit the trajectory of the classic economic bubble cycle if it tried. Never mind, here we go....
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Bernard Townroe | 10/11/2009 10:21 am
That should be, this couldn't better fit the trajectory....... if it tried..
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