New buyer interest has increased for the first month since November 2016, the RICS UK Residential Market Survey has found.
Some 10% more surveyors saw a rise in interest from new buyers in June.
Instructions also held steady, though anecdotally surveyors were said to be a ‘little downbeat’.
Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS, said: “The latest data provides further evidence of the sales market settling down but I don’t get the
impression from the insight provided by contributors that this is fuelling hope of a significantly more active market going forward.
“Many of the factors that have provided a challenge during the first half of the year remain unresolved.
“Meanwhile feedback on the lettings market continues to highlight the impact of the policy changes announced in recent years.
“Build to Rent should in time help take up some of the slack in parts of the country but the RICS indicators capturing rent expectations suggests there is no expectation this will be the case anytime soon.”
Benson Hersch, chief executive at the ASTL, says: “Whilst RICS has again confirmed that current activity is subdued, there is reason to be more optimistic about the future.
"This reflects the opinion of bridging lenders who contributed to the recent ASTL sentiment survey. This survey indicated a more robust outlook for the prospects of the UK economy and nearly 60% of respondents now expect ‘slight growth’ in property prices over the next six months, compared to just under 29% in January.”
Most surveyors put the new build premium at between 5 and 10% currently.
They expect the number of sales to pick up over the next 12 months.
