News

House price momentum slowed to the same level it was a year ago and new buyer inquiries fell for the second consecutive month in August, the RICS claimed this morning.
It also says that the number of agreed house sales also dipped for the first time since September 2012, but the overall picture shows a return to a less volatile market, with more stable price expectations over the next three months.
The RICS said concerns over interest rate rises, the effects of the Mortgage Market Review and an “increasingly acute shortage” of conveyancers is adding two to four times to transaction times.
A “net balance” of 9% of surveyors now expect prices to rise rather than fall – down from 51% at the start of the year.
The RICS said that while a lack of supply remains a challenge for the market across the whole of the country, in London instructions are now picking up.
The survey had just 325 respondents, representing 501 branches. There are only 15 comments on the Scottish sales market, six on the Welsh market and three on the Northern Ireland market.
And if the net balances don’t get you, we are also told that the RICS housing market survey data “is seasonally adjusted using X-12”.
Why can’t they just give the actual figures, everything has to be seasonally adjusted so that few understand the real meaning!
The Bank of England’s MCP takes the RICS survey into account when making decisions on interest rates.
It would appear interest rates are not going to rise as soon as was originally expected!