UK house prices accelerate as drop in London moderates
The fall in London house prices is moderating, an influential study of property surveyors showed today.
The proportion of surveyors reporting falling prices in the capital outweighed those reporting a rise by a margin of 28 per cent in February, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said.
By contrast, the net balance seeing prices fall was 46 per cent in January, indicating a substantial stabilisation in the market.
Across the UK as a whole, a net balance of 14 per cent reported prices rising, compared with seven per cent in January, indicating the market is accelerating.
Part of the reason is that the supply of new houses on to the market is decreasing – a balance of eight per cent saw new instructions fall.
“It is encouraging that the negative trend in buyer enquiries appears to be dissipating, perhaps in part because of growing confidence that the cost of borrowing will stay lower for longer,” said RICS’ chief economist Simon Rubinsohn.