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Housing market unsteady

Jonathan Winston Jonathan Winston
2 min read

A new survey shows that surveyors are expecting house prices to fall due to continuing economic uncertainty and more home sales.

The survey, from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, shows that the number of enquiries from new buyers fell in July while another survey, this time from accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that it may take another 10 years before house prices recover to the sort of levels they were at in 2007, the height of the housing boom.

Jeremy Leaf, a spokesman for RICS said: “A shortage of stock has been one factor holding back transaction activity in the housing market but the abolition of Hips is helping to belatedly address this issue. This is likely to be reflected in higher sales numbers over the coming months. However, with supply of property now beginning to outstrip demand there is a risk of some modest slippage in prices during the second half of the year.”

PricewaterhouseCoopers says that it expects house prices to be flat for the rest of 2010 and that the market remains vulnerable to setbacks. John Hawksworth, the firm’s head of macroeconomics said: “The possibility of a renewed fall in house prices over the next few years, particularly in real terms, cannot be ruled out as mortgage interest rates start to rise again.”

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