House prices 'to keep on rising'

Tuesday, 10 November 2009

Strong rise in mortgage approvals

House prices are likely to keep on rising for the time being, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

Its latest monthly survey shows that sellers are now beginning to return to the property market.

But they are still being outweighed by the number of potential buyers registered with estate agents.

In October the balance of surveyors reporting price rises rather than falls rose to 34%, up from 20% in September.

Rics said this was the strongest survey result in favour of rising prices since December 2006.

"Although the supply of property is beginning to pick-up, it is still insufficient to keep pace with the increase in demand which points to further prices gains in the near term," said Jeremy Leaf of Rics.

"Cheap money remains a critical prop for the market and this is being reflected in the continuing appetite for finance from first-time buyers despite the large deposits still being demanded by lenders," he added.

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Source: BBC Business News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8350707.stm

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