Even though the holiday on paying stamp duty has now ended, the number of property transactions will stay at the current high level throughout the autumn, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Among professionals working in the property market, 11% predicted in the new RICS index that the upcoming three-month period will bring a rise in the number of transactions. By comparison, just 6% of these professionals made a similar prediction in the previous index, with these expectations for property sales suggesting that the next 12 months will see transaction levels remain stable.
The index has identified some ongoing issues in the market though, with demand for houses still significantly outranking the available supply. For that reason, September brought another drop in the number of instructions, while the month also saw appraisal numbers at a lower level than they were for the same time last year.
The shortage of available houses is also bringing about a spiralling of prices, with 68% of industry professionals telling the RICS that they were seeing rises in average prices. A total of 21% stated that they expect to see further increases in them over the course of the next three months.
Speaking to Mortgage Strategy, Simon Rubinsohn from RICS said:
“Delivering higher numbers of new homes is part of the answer but it is critical they are built in the areas where the shortfall is most visible.”
Advisors with CeMAP training will likely need to use their expertise to source specialist mortgages for many clients, while supply remains low.
