More and more housing market indicators are suggesting that UK property market is on the up. The latest comes from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) who indicate that the house price net balance turned positive for the first time in two years. The prices however are being fuelled by a lack of inventory and may not be sustainable
Jeremy Leaf, spokesman for RICS, said of the latest report: “Although it is clear that house prices are now rising, it continues to be the lack of supply that is underpinning the recovery in most parts of the country. The more positive news flow will gradually encourage vendors to start putting property back on the market. This development should enable more potential purchasers to find desirable properties to buy but it could also present a challenge to the firmer trend in prices particularly when interest rates finally begin to move upwards.”
The net balance of surveyors who reported rises in prices rather than falls reached a positive number of 10.7 percent from the previous balance of negative 5.7 percent. This is the highest positive reading since May of 2007, when the net balance was 24.8 percent.
The number of sales per surveyor over the last three months was greatest in the East, with 22 per surveyor, and the West Midlands, with 19 sales each. The national average now stands at 17 sales per surveyor, and London had the lowest number of sales with 12 per surveyor.
Meanwhile, in other UK Housing Market News the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said that lending to homebuyers had shown “its first material annual growth in July since early 2007”.
The CML recorded a 24 per cent rise in the number of loans taken out to buy a home to 56,000 from June to July. The figure also represents a 19 per cent rise on the number recorded in July 2008. Find cheap loans
