UK Housing Market Likely To Pick Up Later This Year: RICS

(RTTNews) - The UK housing market is set to pick up later this year despite demand and sales remaining broadly flat in January, the residential property survey published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed Thursday.

The new buyer enquiries index returned a net balance of zero and agreed sales were up by a net balance of +3 percent in January.

Nonetheless, the future outlook for sales turned stronger. The balance for the three-month ahead for sales climbed to +10 percent and the twelve months outlook was more positive, at +30 percent.

House prices continued to rise across the country, with +22 percent net balance responses indicating rises over the month. A net 55 percent said house prices will continue to rise over the coming twelve months.

"The latest survey feedback indicates that growth in buyer demand lost a bit of momentum through the early part of the year, with this flatter picture likely linked to the turbulence seen across money markets in the first half of January," RICS Head of Market Analytics, Tarrant Parsons, said.

Nevertheless, Parsons said outlook for sales was positive in the near-term and it should be further supported by the unwinding of some of the pressures around mortgage interest rates over the past couple of weeks.