Home sales were sluggish in January
Home sales stayed sluggish in January, according to industry experts, with central London suffering a decline in sales.
According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), house sales lacked "momentum" in January, but an overall shortage of housing stock is still pushing up house prices and rents.
The gloomy outlook comes after the government published a housing white paper that many critics said was lacking in the kind of radical reforms required to shake up the nation's property market.
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Respondents to the Rics survey said that buy to let investment in the housing market will continue to fall due to the government's three per cent tax hike on second homes, which was introduced last April. Twenty-eight per cent of respondents said landlords will be decreasing the size of their portfolio over the next year.
Simon Rubinsohn, Rics chief economist, said: "The scale of the challenge the government faces as it announces its new approach to housing is clearly demonstrated in the results from our latest survey.
"Not only are the headline price and rent series pointing to further increases over the course of this year, but more significantly, the medium term view of Rics professionals working up and down the country is that both house prices and rents will over the medium term continue to grow at a faster pace than wages."
James Gubbins of Dauntons Residential in Pimlico said: "[There was a] small uplift in buyer activity over the last two months at the lower end of the market, minimal interest in properties over £1m."