Reeling under the problem of acute shortage of homes, the UK’s home prices will rise 25% over the next five years, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
New buyers are entering the market at the fastest pace in a year. Yet the supply of homes has gone down alarmingly, causing property prices to go up faster in May compared to April.
The supply of homes for sales has dropped by 12% since the start of this year, said RICS. Their data is based on the average number of homes for sale on chartered surveyor estate agents’ books. RICS said that the average stock of houses per surveyor has now fallen to 52, the lowest level since records began in January, 1978.
Earlier it was believed that the supply of homes would rise after the general election. “There had been some hope that the removal of political uncertainty would encourage more properties on to the market, but the initial indications are that this is not proving to be the case. As a result, it is hardly surprising that prices across much of the country are continuing to be squeezed higher, with property set to become ever more unaffordable,” said Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS.
Rubinsohn added that the feedback RICS was receiving from its members “points to prices at a headline level rising by another 25% over the next five years”. He added that there was no real confidence among members that effective measures to provide a major boost to new supply would be delivered by the government any time soon.
The North West and London saw the sharpest drop in new homes coming onto the market compared with April, RICS said. “More ominously, U.K.-wide listings have now failed to see any meaningful growth since the middle of 2013,” he said.
This article was republished with permission from Global Property Guide.
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