MNI: UK Feb House Price Survey Suggests Price Flattening

--RICS Dec-Feb House Price Balance 0; Feb Agreed Sales Balance -17%

By Jai Lakhani

     LONDON (MNI) - A survey of UK property surveyors published Thursday showed

housing demand and supply falling leading to an unchanged price balance. 

     The February Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) New Buyer

enquiries measure, which tends to be a good front-runner for Bank of England

mortgage approvals, fell for an eleventh consecutive month resulting in a net

balance reading of -16%. 

     "This would appear to suggest that the government's attempt to breathe

fresh life into the market through eliminating the stamp duty tax for most

first-time buyers is not having a significant impact on overall demand," the

RICS release said. 

     Combining this with the Newly Agreed Sales net balance (which leads

official transaction data), coming in at -17% tells a story of demand and supply

for residential property directly offsetting one another. 

     Consequently, the national RICS Price Balance measure came in at zero and

is the ninth month in a row that the reading was between 0 and +9%. RICS said

this points to "... very little change in house prices over the coming months."

     The RICS survey is a leading housing market indicator as it captures

initial trends in both buyer demand and supply of houses coming onto the market.

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; +44 203 865 3828; email: jai.lakhani@marketnews.com

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