Surveyors upbeat despite house market dip - Rics

(Sharecast News) - The UK house market softened slightly in January, a closely-watch survey showed on Thursday, as the year got off to a slower start. According to the latest UK residential property survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, house prices continued to grow in January, with a net balance of 22. However, that was below both the 26 recorded in December and the 27 expected by analysts.

Respondents were also more cautious about short-term outlook. The balance for price expectations in the next three months fell to 3 from 14.

The new buyer enquiries balance was flat in January, while agreed sales edged up only marginally, with a net balance of 3.

However, longer-term and respondents remained notably more upbeat.

House prices were still expected to grow, with the 12-month outlook net balance reaching 52, with sales similarly expected to strengthen. The 12-month outlook net balance for sales was 30, compared to the three-month outlook balance of 10.

Tarrant Parsons, head of market analytics at Rics, said: "Buyer demand lost a bit of momentum through the early part of the year, with this flatter picture likely linked to the turbulence seen across money markets in the first half of January.

"Nevertheless, moving forward, respondents continue to envisage a slightly positive near-term outlook for sales activity. This should be further supported by the unwinding of some of the pressures around mortgage interest rates over the past couple of weeks."

A net balance is the is the difference between surveyors reporting a rise and those seeing a fall. The survey received 248 responses from 473 branches.