A lack of demand, new listings and price growth points to a stagnant U.K. real estate market, according to Wednesday’s residential market survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
However it’s London’s poor performance, along with that of the South East of England, that is weighing down the national market most, while conditions appear a little healthier in other parts of the U.K., the report found.
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The organization, which polled 293 surveyors, said that demand from buyers fell for the 12th month in a row in March, as only two of the 12 regions and countries covered by the survey saw an increase in new buyer demand. They did not specify which regions or countries.
Meanwhile, the supply of new listings slowed too in March, marking the seventh month of negative readings, the survey said, and bringing average stock levels to "within a whisker of an all-time low," the report said.
Price growth nationwide was virtually non-existent but remained negative in London and to a lesser extent in the South East, East Anglia and the North East. Meanwhile, prices continue to rise across all other parts of the U.K., with Northern Ireland, Wales and the East Midlands seeing the best price performances, according to the survey.
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One London-based surveyor pointed toward recent economic conditions and uncertainty for the city’s weak market. "Stamp Duty and Brexit have killed the fluidity of the London market," said Toby Whittome in the survey. "Only when the extent of the resulting economic damage is properly understood will things be able to change for the better."
The findings from the The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors contrasted a recent report from U.K. bank and mortgage provider Halifax, who found that property prices in the first three months of the year were 2.7% higher than at the same time a year earlier, bringing the average property price in the U.K. up to £227,871 (US$322,161).