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House prices are about to fall across UK, warns RICS
Original Author: Rosalind Renshaw
House prices are expected to dip nationally over the coming months.
The RICS this morning said that the drop is expected to be short term, and will be the first decline in four years.
House prices in central London are already dropping, and while prices are continuing to climb “modestly” over the rest of the UK, surveyors are expecting falls over the next three months.
London and East Anglia are expected to bear the brunt.
The RICS also reports that buyer demand fell in May for a second consecutive month, and at the fastest pace since 2008.
RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said: “What we are looking at is a short-term drop caused by the uncertainty resulting from the forthcoming EU referendum coupled by a slowdown following the rush to get into the market ahead of the tax change on the purchase of investment properties.
“There is not at this point a sense that a fundamental shift is taking place in the market.”
The RICS said that in May, the number of agreed sales fell for a second consecutive month.
The organisation is predicting that UK rents are set to increase by 4.7% each year for the next five years, against annual house price rises of 4.1%.
Despite a short-term drop in house prices, just over half of the RICS members who contributed to this morning’s report expect house prices to be higher this time next year than now.
Comments by RICS members are revealing, with many citing a slowdown, the referendum, tax changes, and very low stock.
Neil Hunt, of Wilkins Vardy in Chesterfield, said: “If the government’s intention was to kill off the buy-to-let market, their strategy seems to be working perfectly.”
In a similar comment, Benson Beard of Bective Leslie Marsh in Chelsea said: “If Osborne’s aim was to bring the central London market to a standstill, he has succeeded.”
http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/house-prices-are-about-to-fall-across-uk-says-rics/
