14
Feb
Home sales expected to increase
Surveyors expect sales of homes in England and Wales to rise in
the final weeks of a stamp duty holiday.
Sales expectations for the next three months were at their
highest level since May 2010, the Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors' (Rics) said.
The 1% stamp duty rate for first-time buyers, on properties
worth between £125,000 and £250,000, is being
reintroduced on 24 March.
Surveyors said that the mild winter had also helped
activity.
Fewer surveyors than before expect prices to fall in the coming
months, although more still expect prices to fall than to
increase.
'Improved tone'
Chancellor George Osborne took the decision to reintroduce the
stamp duty rate in last November's Autumn Statement, pointing out
that the policy - introduced in March 2010 by the previous Labour
government - had not helped many more people buy a home.
On Monday, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said that a
pick-up in first-time buyer numbers at the end of 2011 could be the
result of people trying to get on the property ladder before the
concession expired.
And now the Rics survey has suggested that the "improved tone"
among surveyors about activity in the market and price expectations
could be at least partially due to the same reason.
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Francis Brown
Surveyor in Richmond, North Yorkshire
House price surveys explained
Deals as stamp duty holiday ends
"With first-time buyers no longer exempt from stamp duty as of the
end of March, it seems that some are looking to purchase homes
before the deadline and, as a result, surveyors are relatively
optimistic for the coming months," said Michael Newey, Rics'
housing spokesman.
He pointed out that first-time buyers still faced difficulties
securing a mortgage.
Following the end of March, the end of the stamp duty concession
could partially unwind this extra activity of the coming weeks, the
Rics report suggested.
Prices
The government's own house price survey - compiled by the
Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) - confirms
that UK house prices stagnated last year.
It says they rose by 0.1% in 2011 to take the average house
price to £205,269, leaving them 5% below the peak recorded in
April 2008.
The trend in prices was far from uniform. Values fell by 1.6% in
Wales, 4.6% in Scotland and 8.1% in Northern Ireland.
But in England they rose by 0.5%, with London prices rising the
most - up by 4.4%.
Other recent surveys have shown a similar picture for last
year.
The Nationwide said prices rose by 1% in 2011.
The Halifax said they fell by 1.3%.
The Land Registry said prices fell by 1.3% in 2011 in England and
Wales.
'Surprisingly brisk'
The Rics survey said the weather was a significant factor in the
recent pick-up in activity which had been noted, primarily, by
surveyors in the north of England.
Before the cold snap in February, the winter had been mild, and
that had encouraged more people than a year earlier to go
house-hunting, some said.
"It has been a reasonably busy start to the year. The kind
weather has meant that viewers can travel some distance," said
surveyor Francis Brown, of Richmond, North Yorkshire.
Edward Waterson, a surveyor in York, said: "There has been a
surprisingly brisk start to the year, despite the economy.
"Buyers have appeared to get the bit between their teeth and a
shortage of stock is forcing them to make decisions and stick to
them."