The property market continues to heat up as buyers look to beat the April deadline when stamp duty will rise, according to the latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
The closely-watched monthly survey gives a snapshot of what is happening on the ground in the property market across the country.
This month’s survey revealed more Rics members, comprising estate agents and surveyors, saw house house prices rise over the last three months than those that reported falls.
Heading higher: More Rics members are reporting that house prices have risen over the past three months than those that are saying prices have fallen
More Rics members are also reporting an uptick in buyer enquiries, than the number that are reporting fewer buyer enquiries.
Rics says that this is the fourth month in a row in which it has seen buyer demand grow.
More Rics members continue to report an uptick in sales than those seeing sales numbers fall.
Tarrant Parsons, head of market analysis at Rics said: ‘The UK housing market saw a continued pick-up in activity through October, with the recent improvement in buyer demand translating into growth in the number of sales being agreed.
‘Just as importantly, forward-looking sentiment points to this brighter trend remaining in place of the coming months.’
Tina Paillet, president of Rics added: ‘The pending expiration in the higher stamp duty threshold in spring 2025 may cause homeowners and first-time buyers to rush to take advantage of the current rate, but this will likely be followed by a weaker trend after the deadline has passed.’
As of 1 April next year, the price at which stamp duty starts to be charged will revert back to £300,000 for first-time buyers, from its current level of £425,000. For home movers, the threshold at which they start paying the tax is falling from £250,000 to £125,000.
This follows temporary changes put in place in 2022.
Looking ahead, more surveyors and agents are expecting prices to rise over the next three months than those who expect prices to fall.
More house hunting: Agreed sales and new buyer enquiries see further rise
Northern Ireland and Scotland to lead house price rise
Virtually all parts of the UK are expected to see a rise in house prices in the year to come, led by firm growth across Northern Ireland and Scotland.
The upbeat market survey comes despite the fact that mortgage rates have been rising.
NatWest has become the sixth major lender this week to announce fixed home loan prices are going up.
The spate of rate hikes will seem counterintuitive given the Bank of England cut interest rates from 5 per cent to 4.75 per cent, last Thursday.
Lenders are pricing upwards as a result of heightened inflation expectations after the Labour Budget and Trump election win.
‘The rise in bond yields following the Budget, alongside a general increase in financial market implied interest rate expectations over the past couple of weeks,’ added Parsons.
‘This will likely present something of a headwind for the market to contend with over the short term.’
Turnaround: After the negativity surrounding house prices in recent years, positivity has returned with more Rics members now expecting prices to rise, rather than fall going forward
Even so, house prices have hit a new high, according to Halifax’s data, surpassing the previous peak set in June 2022 during the pandemic property boom.
The price of the average home rose for the fourth month in a row in October, according to the bank, which bases its figures on its own mortgage applications.
The typical property edged up by 0.2 per cent over the month, while year-on-year prices rose by 3.9 per cent.
It means the average property price has reached a record high of £293,999, surpassing the previous peak of £293,507.
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Yorkshire and the Humber and the South West of England were the only regions to have more Rics members reporting that prices are falling, rather than rising.
Mark Hunter of Grice and Hunter in Doncaster in South Yorkshire said: ‘There has been a lull in activity as expected due to the budget. We anticipate being in limbo until at least mid January.’
Howard Davis of Howard estate agents in Bristol said: ‘We are seeing plenty of negotiations from asking prices. As a result, values are falling.’
The majority of those surveyed in North of England, the North West, Scotland and Northern Ireland are reporting that prices are rising, however.
Clare Murphy of Countrywide Surveying Services based in Manchester said: ‘Demand for house purchases are high, new build sales are still high.
Ian Fergusson of Shepherd Chartered Surveyors in Scotland said: ‘Strong market with good seller and buyer activity – prices rising.
In Northern Ireland Rics members are reporting that a shortage of homes on the market is contributing to rising prices.
Kirby O’Connor of GOC estate agents in Belfast said: ‘We have found our new developments selling well, higher demand and I feel this is due to interest rates.
‘This opened the market to more first time buyers. Also the investor market is continuing to be strong.
Samuel Dickey of Simon Brien Residential in Belfast added: ‘Lack of supply is still the trend, therefore there is competitive bidding on most properties.’
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