The outlook for the UK housing market over the next quarter is the worst in 20 years, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which said a lack of certainty around Brexit was to blame.
The group said the net balance of sales expectations across the UK in the next three months is -28 per cent, the lowest it has been since 1999.
The 12-month outlook is slightly better, remaining broadly flat, which RICS said is a sign that “some of the near-term pessimism is linked to the lack of clarity around what form of departure the UK might make from the EU in March”.
Sales volumes fell in December, and a net balance of 19 per cent of surveyors reported declining house prices, an increase on 11 per cent in November. Meanwhile, buyer demand deteriorated for the fifth month in a row.
Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, said: “It is hardly a surprise with ongoing uncertainty about the path to Brexit dominating the news agenda, that even allowing for the normal patterns around the Christmas holidays, buyer interest in purchasing property in December was subdued.
“This is also very clearly reflected in a worsening trend in near term sales expectations. Looking a little further out, there is some comfort provided by the suggestion that transactions nationally should stabilise as some of the fog lifts, but that moment feels a way off for many respondents to the survey.”
“Meanwhile it is hard to see developers stepping up the supply pipeline in this environment. Getting to the government's 300,000 building target was never going to be easy but pushing up to anywhere near this figure will require significantly greater input from other delivery channels including local authorities taking advantage of their new-found freedom.”
