Key facts
- RICS' 12-month sales outlook fell to -17 in October, which it said was the weakest reading since July 2023.
- The house price balance came in at -36, below the -34 forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.
- Agreed sales fell to -24 from -18, the weakest in three months, while new buyer enquiries held at -24.
- Rent growth expectations for the next three months climbed to +41 from +29, the strongest since early 2024.
- RICS said tenant demand strengthened and landlords reduced the number of properties put on the market.
British property surveyors were the most downbeat about the short-term outlook for house sales in more than three years in October, as rising interest rates for mortgages compressed demand, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said on November 12.
RICS said its outlook for house sales over the 12 months fell to -17 in October, with surveyors expecting the broadest drop in sales since July 2023. "Home buyer demand remains subdued, and respondents are bracing for a weaker year ahead for sales given the persistent macroeconomic challenges being faced," RICS head of market research Tarrant Parsons said.
The survey's headline house price balance dropped to -36 in October from September's downwardly revised reading of -34, a slightly bigger drop than the -34 forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. RICS' gauge of new buyer enquiries held at -24, while agreed sales fell to -24 from -18, the weakest in three months.
In rentals, tenant demand strengthened and landlords reduced the properties put on the market. Expectations for growth in rents over the next three months climbed to +41 from +29, the strongest since early 2024.
The Bank of England raised interest rates to 4% from 3.75% in the week before the report, its first hike in three years.