UK Housing Market Activity Cools, Prices Edge Up: RICS

By David Robinson

     LONDON (MNI) - Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors data showed a mild

increase in UK house prices in the three months through September, with a net 6%

of property surveyors reporting a rise.

     The survey found activity cooled in September, with a net 20% of

respondents reporting a fall in would-be buyers, the sixth consecutive negative

reading, and a net 15% recording a fall in agreed sales, the lowest sales

reading since July 2016.

     The RICS survey has consistently shown soft activity in recent months. The

of declining supply and demand has left a slightly greater number of surveyors

reporting price rises than falls.

     The RICS survey captures the diffusion of price rises but not, per se, the

magnitude.

     The capital and the South East saw the fastest declines in house sales,

with only Wales and the South West reporting increased sales in September.

Prices were, on balance, reported to have fallen in London, with many

respondents viewing it as unaffordable.

     A net 1% of surveyors expected sales to diminish over the next three months

while stocks of properties on estate agents' books held steady at 43.3,

suggesting little change in the supply/demand balance in coming months.

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2223; email: david.robinson@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; +44 203-586-2226; email: jamie.satchithanantham@marketnews.com

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