13/08/2013

Housing Market Showing Signs Of Recovery

The latest RICS Residential Market Survey has suggested that the UK housing market has turned a corner.

It was also revealed that buyers returned to the market in their largest numbers for four years.

During the month of July, the amount of potential buyers looking to enter the property market grew at the fastest rate since July 2009, with 53% of chartered surveyors reporting increases in demand.

Since the start of the year, buyers have gradually been returning to test the market – thanks in no small part to government finance initiatives – yet there was a marked increase in the amount of would-be buyers last month.

Significantly, RICS said this growth was seen in every part of the UK, with the West Midlands and the North East – two areas which have suffered more than most since the market crash – experiencing the biggest increases in buyer activity.

Elsewhere in the survey, prices rose for the fourth consecutive month and also grew at their fastest rate since the market peak of November 2006.

In tandem with rising buyer confidence, more potential sellers looked to test the market and place their homes up for sale. Last month, 15% more respondents reported rises rather than falls in new instructions.

This reading has now been in positive territory for the last six months, but in each of these months it has been outstripped by the change in new buyer enquiries.

Looking ahead, the RICS report suggested that prices across the UK are going to continue to rise, with 35% more surveyors predicting increases. Meanwhile, transaction levels are also expected to grow, as 53% more respondents expect sales to rise rather than fall over the next three months.

Speaking about the latest findings, RICS Global Residential Director, Peter Bolton King, said: "These results are great news for the property market as it looks like at long last a recovery could be around the corner. Growth in buyer numbers and prices have been happening in some parts of the country since the beginning of the year but this is the first time that everywhere has experienced some improvement. It is clearly good news that those parts of the property market that were struggling are at last showing some signs of life."

(JP/IT)

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