London (dpa-AFX) – British house prices climbed noticeably in April as the increase in demand increasingly outstripped supply, monthly survey results from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, or RICS, showed on Thursday.
The house price balance rose to 75 per cent in April, from 62 per cent in March. All regions showed sharp pick-ups in house price inflation.
A headline net balance of +44 per cent of contributors cited a pick-up in buyer enquiries in April, which was virtually unchanged from a reading of +43 per cent a month ago.
The balance for newly agreed sales advanced to +34 per cent, but down from +48 per cent in March. Looking ahead, near term sales expectations remained comfortably positive at the national level, posting a net balance of +23 per cent.
The survey participants noted that the number of fresh listings arriving on the market is insufficient to match the current levels of demand. The net balance for new instructions fell to -4 per cent.
Looking ahead, the near term price expectations net balance came in at +47 per cent, marginally higher than the reading of +43 per cent in the previous survey.
The market will undoubtedly cool as the rush to buy during the stamp duty holiday eases, Andrew Wishart, an economist at Capital Economics, said.
But, with mortgage rates low and the economy recovering quickly, the recent increases in house prices are not likely to be reversed, the economist noted.