Warning to UK house sellers who haven't sold their home yet 'this year'
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its latest survey of property professionals suggests that a recent recovery in buyer demand has mellowed.
UK homeowners who have yet to sell their property this year have been warned as new home buyer inquiries "flatlined" in April, following a three-month consecutive increase.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) revealed that its latest survey of property professionals indicates a slight cooling off in buyer demand.
In April, a net balance of 1% of property professionals reported a drop in new buyer inquiries, compared to a balance of 6% reporting an increase in March.
Simon Rubinsohn, Chief Economist at Rics, commented: "Feedback to the latest Rics survey demonstrates the sensitivity of the sales market to interest rates at the present time, given the continuing challenge around affordability."
He added: "A modest back up in mortgage pricing has contributed to the flatlining in the buyer inquiries metric over the past month, as well as the slightly more cautious signals around near-term expectations.
"That said, there is still a strong perception that activity in the market will pick up in the latter part of the year and into 2025, irrespective of any political uncertainty around the general election.
"As far as the lettings market is concerned, an increasing number of respondents are also drawing attention to affordability constraints, and this is reflected in a more modest pace of rental growth.
"But a fundamental problem in the market across much of the country remains the imbalance between demand and supply with new instructions continuing to decline."
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Anna Anthony, UK financial services managing partner at EY, remarked: "While we are hopefully beginning to see economic recovery in the UK, both households and businesses continue to face high borrowing costs.
This of course has knock-on effects on bank lending, and activity in the housing market has been particularly impacted.
High living and lending costs have meant fewer house purchases, and although we're starting to see signs that activity is picking up, we expect mortgage lending growth to be very low again this year.", reports Birmingham Live.
She further noted: "If inflation continues to fall and interest rates are cut in the coming months as expected, we believe economic recovery and market confidence will gain momentum in 2025. However, election uncertainty in the UK and in the US, alongside rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Ukraine, mean potential risks to the downside remain very real."
