More homes for sale but prices continue to fall

The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors survey finds more properties coming onto the market but "unrealistic prices" holding back sales.

Property sales only dipped slightly in December, according to the latest UK Housing Market survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). But the outlook for the first three months of this year is not so promising, with “unrealistic price expectations” being blamed for a potential slump in sales.

Surveyors reported that house prices are continuing to fall, albeit at their slowest level since June 2010. London was the only region to see prices rise, while the West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside recorded the biggest falls.

And prices are predicted to keep falling over the next three months.

The average number of completed sales per surveyor in December was 15.2, only slightly less than its best level since autumn 2010. And more homes came onto the market for the third consecutive month.

There was also a slight increase in the number of buyers coming onto the market. But surveyors reported that a lack of mortgage finance is continuing to hold back many potential buyers.

That situation isn’t likely to improve any time soon, with a recent report by the Bank of England noting that many lenders would be tightening their lending criteria this year.

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