UK house sales outlook is darkest since 2023
LONDON: British property surveyors were the most downbeat about the short-term outlook for house sales in more than three years in October, as rising interest rates for mortgages compressed demand, a survey showed on Thursday.
London - British property surveyors expressed the bleakest outlook for house sales in over three years in October, as rising mortgage rates dampened demand, according to a survey released on Thursday. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reported that its forecast for house sales over the next 12 months fell to -17, marking the steepest decline since July 2023.
The surveyors anticipate the most significant drop in sales since then, with home buyer demand remaining weak and respondents bracing for a weaker year ahead due to persistent macroeconomic challenges, said RICS head of market research Tarrant Parsons.
The RICS headline house price balance slipped to -36 from the downwardly revised -34 in September, a sharper decline than the -34 forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. The survey gauge for new buyer enquiries remained at -24, while agreed sales dropped to -24 from -18, the weakest in three months. In the rental market, tenant demand improved, and landlords decreased the number of properties put on the market.
Expectations for rent growth over the next three months rose to +41, up from +29, marking the strongest increase since early 2024.
The Bank of England recently raised interest rates to 4.0% from 3.75% last week, its first hike in three years.
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