Rics reports house price fall

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Rics reports house price fall

Wed 14th May 2008

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) house price balance dropped for the ninth consecutive month in April, with 95.1 per cent more of its members reported a fall than a rise in house prices.

For some regions the picture is worse, with chartered surveyors in East Anglia, the north and the north-west unanimous in reporting that house prices were falling.

Meanwhile Scotland, which has shown house price growth up until now, saw its net balance turn negative last month.

However, despite these depressed results, Rics has predicted that a large decline in prices will be prevented by strong employment, low mortgage arrears and a lack of housing supply.

Ian Perry, a spokesperson for the group, commented: "Although most surveyors are now seeing price declines, the extent of the fall, is at this stage, quite modest."

"The real issue is the collapse in the number of housing transactions," he added.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders released its latest data on the number of loans taken out for house purchase yesterday, which showed it was down by one per cent in March from the previous month.

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