The report found that house price inflation dropped to its lowest level since the start of the year with the difference between chartered surveyors reporting rises and those reporting falls down from 39 per cent in September to 24 per cent, however this is still slightly above the long term average of 23 per cent.
Although price rises continued in most regions, they did so at a slower pace in comparison with the summer. RICS are predicting that the market will continue to slow down, with 61 per cent more expecting sales to fall than rise, against 57 per cent last month. 24 per cent expected to see prices fall rather than rise, against 19 per cent last month.
Ian Perry, housing market spokesman at RICS, said: “The housing market held up a lot better than many had predicted with price rises slowing down last month rather than falling back. The market will be greatly helped by the recently announced half per cent reduction in interest rates. As a result, chartered surveyors are confident for market prospects in the new year. Nevertheless things will remain sluggish and sellers will need to price realistically to achieve sales over the next few months.”
