The number of UK house sales dropped over the past quarter to its lowest level since January, thwarting hopes that the arrival of better weather could have led to a spike in home sales.
The latest figures from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) indicate that the average number of completed sales per surveyor fell by 3.4% in the three months to May, to just 14.7 per surveyor, and the number of newly agreed sales fell during May, compared with April. At the same time, the average number of stocks per surveyor increased over the month of May, pointing to a growing gap between supply and demand. RICS reported that the average number of stocks per surveyor increased by 8.1% over the month to 71.3 (from 66).
The sharp regional divide between London and the South East and the rest of the country continued in full force. The capital was the only region where surveyors reported a rise rather than fall in prices and the price balance remained negative in Wales, Scotland and Nothern Ireland.
