Brexit jitters dampen London property market as activity slumps, says Rics

Fresh fears for the future of London’s subdued housing market have been brought to light this morning, with a new closely-followed survey suggesting that a growing number of the capital's buyers and sellers are sitting tight as Brexit jitters mount.

Painting a downbeat picture for the upcoming months within London’s residential property market, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has today forecasted further price falls in the capital as buyers drop their expectations in the wake of weaker demand.

Nervousness around political tussles in Westminster and concerns over the country’s planned departure from the EU have prompted widespread uncertainty among buyers and sellers, according to Rics, which found that the number of people looking for a new property in London continued to fall in November.

Some 32 per cent more respondents also said they saw a drop rather than a rise in the number of new properties being listed for sale, marking the fastest pace of decline in supply since June 2016.

Rics chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said that he could not remember a previous survey when a single issue such as Brexit had been highlighted by so many contributors.

Rubinsohn said: "Caution is visible among both buyers and vendors and where deals are being done, they are taking longer to get over the line. Significantly the forward-looking indicators reflect the suspicion that the political machinations are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon."

He added: "The bigger risk is that this now spills over into development plans making it even harder to secure the uplift in the building pipeline to address the housing crisis which is particularly visible in the capital."