A spokesman for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said: “Data released by the Bank of England this morning shows that transaction activity in the housing market remains very subdued. Indeed, the number of mortgage approvals slipped to 47,474 in September. This is the lowest level since February.
“Two key factors are depressing activity levels; firstly, demand is weakening, as indicated by the by the RICS Housing Market Survey. Secondly, there remains a major scarcity of mortgage finance. Indeed, the latest Bank of England Credit Conditions Survey indicates that mortgage availability is not expected to improve during Q4.
“Despite this, the latest RICS data shows that overall, sales expectations remain positive. Surveyors, in part, are anticipating that potential homebuyers could return to the market given the weaker trend in house prices.”
Richard Sexton, business development director at e.surv, said: “An important factor to stress is that it’s not just mortgage approval numbers that have shown a slight decline – it’s LTV ratios, too. This is down to credit market basics – lenders are toughening their criteria and buyers are cautious.
"As a result, we see fewer loans and those that are written are smaller. The housing market may stay quiet for a while, particularly in regions more exposed to public spending cuts. But housing is not a simple financial asset – it’s in very short supply – and that will put a floor under any price weakness, as it did even in the teeth of the credit crunch.”
