Chartered surveyors say rising buyer enquiries are
continuing to push up
house prices.
An increase in the supply of properties is failing to halt
rising house prices, new data from the Royal Institute of Chartered
Surveyors
has revealed.
The RICS Housing Market survey, published on December 15,
indicated demand is still outstripping supply, with 28% more
surveyors stating that enquiries from potential purchasers are
rising rather than falling.
Meanwhile, the majority of surveyors have reported rising prices
for the fourth
month in a row.
The sales to stock ratio, a measure of market slack and a lead
indicator of future prices have continued to climb, rising for the
twelfth consecutive month.
However, the RICS warned that though the latest survey suggested
key indicators were continuing to improve, the pace of the
improvements appeared to be slowing.
In particular, it noted that the number of respondents feeling
positive about the outlook of prices dropped slightly - from
31% of chartered surveyors believing
prices would rise rather than fall over the next three months in
October, to 28% saying the same in November.
London and the south east continue to be the most buoyant
regions, the RICS said, with buyer enquiries remaining strong
against subdued levels of instructions, and prices continuing to
rise.
EARNIE customer, Bellway Homes, Essex division, said they had
seen a rise in
prices of their own properties but believed the upturn was partly
geographical.
“As the Essex division we are better off than most – although we
made redundancies 18 months ago the past few months has seen an
upturn and we are managing to keep our head above water,” said
Keith Snooks, of Bellway Homes.
He added: “The south of the country is doing a lot better than
the north in terms
of retaining the value of newly built houses. We are still building
and there is a growing sense of optimism. Our Manchester division
built a development of over
100 units they can’t sell and the value has now dropped to such an
extent the
profit has all but gone.”
He added: “The government has helped out the sector out with a
number of schemes including Home Buy Direct - but the banks
are still posing a problem for us, as most are still only lending
75% of value which is no good for a lot of first time
buyers -
our target market.”
Commenting on the RICS survey, Ian Perry, the organisations
spokesperson said
he was optimistic for the housing market in 2010.
“For the fourth month in a row, the survey points towards prices
rising, even
though the general state of the economy would suggest that the
housing market should not be faring as well as it is.
“Despite modest increases in the number of properties coming on
to the market,
it is clear that this is not significant enough to keep pace with
the levels of demand. Buyer enquiries are continuing to grow and
with the pace of job losses now easing, the risk is that the New
Year could see a further wave of interest in the market.”
Bellway Homes, Essex division, has been using EARNIE payroll
software for the
past 7 years.
Keith Snooks, office manager said: “We have always used EARNIE
for as long as
I have been here and I know it’s highly favoured in the office due
to the fact it’s simple to use and takes the hassle out of
employing contractors and keeping up-
to-date with legislative changes.”
He added: “It’s a great bit of kit.”
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