Rise in prices fuels surveyors' optimism
The proportion of surveyors reporting that UK house prices are rising has reached its highest level in almost three years. The figures issued by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) show that the net balance of surveyors reporting rising rather than falling house prices over the last three months rose to 34% in October – up from 21% in September and the highest figure recorded since December 2006.
The RICS survey also showed that buyer activity had continued to rise, albeit at a slower rate than in previous months. A net balance of 31% of surveyors reported that enquires from buyers had risen in October, just below the 35% reported in September. Similarly the net balance reporting a rise in agreed sales stood at 29%, slightly down on the September figure of 32%.
There were indications that recent growth had attracted more sellers back to the market with a net balance of 15% of surveyors reporting a rise in instructions in October compared with just 5% in September.
Commenting on the results David Marshall, business analyst with ESPC said: "We have seen a gradual rise in the number of homes being put up for sale recently. The market had been suffering somewhat from a shortage in the supply of new homes for sale so this is certainly welcome news as a continued excess of demand over supply would simply lead to unsustainable levels of inflation. Continued improvement in coming months is likely to attract more sellers back to the market and this should help reign in inflation to sustainable levels which is obviously to the long-term benefit of the market."
You can view the RICS housing market survey here, or you can view all the latest house price reports on Edinburgh and East Central Scotland in our Market Watch section.