The number of people looking to buy a new home dropped to its lowest level since 2008 in April, according to surveyors across the UK.
Those who reported a drop in enquiries last month outnumbered those who reported a rise by 22 per cent, according to a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, or Rics.
Surveyors said they expected sales to remain flat in the coming months because of uncertainty over the EU referendum on June 23. In London, 22 per cent more respondents expect sales to fall over the next three months.
Prices continue to rise but at a slower pace everywhere except central London, which saw a modest decline in house prices. In the North, house prices stayed the same.
The introduction of higher stamp duty on buy-to-let properties may also have hit April figures, Rics said, as buyers rushed to complete in March before they were hit with higher tax, making April a quieter month.
The housing market continues to face a "supply crisis" in the longer term, with 8 per cent more surveyors reporting a fall in new contracts in April.
Simon Rubinsohn, Rics chief economist, said that uncertainty features heavily in the feedback Rics got from its survey.
"More ominous is the expectation that both prices and rents will head materially higher over medium term despite existing affordability concerns," he said.
Analysts have said that the housing bubble has already burst, after sellers started slashing asking prices and the number of top end transactions on homes worth over £2 million dropped off.
Properties across the UK are now selling for an average of more than £25,000 less than their asking price, £4,000 more than the discount in January, according to Zoopla, an online property portal.
