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RICS: House prices hit new low
17 April 2008 10:30
The number of properties displaying price decreases reached record levels last month, according to new figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
An unprecedented 78.5 per cent more surveyors recorded a fall rather than an increase in house prices in March, up from 65.7 per cent in February, with the East Midlands the worst performing region and Scotland the only part of the UK to display a net increase.
Moreover, the proportion of surveyors reporting a decrease rather than a rise in new buyer enquiries rose from 39 to 49 per cent last month, while the ratio of completed sales to unsold housing stock declined from 26.3 to 24.8 per cent.
RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf warned that market sentiment would remain weak while the liquidity crisis endured, attributing price stagnation to the limited mortgage finance available but insisting that the market would not crash unless supply rapidly increased.
He predicted that the next six months would be a crucial period for homeowners, although he added that would-be buyers with larger deposits could see this situation as an opportunity to buy in areas that they could not previously have afforded to.
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