Britain suffers biggest housing downturn since financial crisis, says Rics

hl.co.uk:

We don’t support this browser anymore. This means our website may not look and work as you would expect. Read more about browsers and how to update them here.

Newsroom

Newsroom articles are published by leading news agencies. Hargreaves Lansdown is not responsible for an article's content and its accuracy. We may not share the views of the author.

HL Podcast

HL Insight

High property prices and mortgage rates trigger slump in sales.

Article originally published by The Telegraph. Hargreaves Lansdown is not responsible for its content or accuracy and may not share the author's views. News and research are not personal recommendations to deal. All investments can fall in value so you could get back less than you invest.

Published by

10 Aug 2023

Britain’s housing market is in its worst state since the financial crisis, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has said, as high property prices and mortgage rates trigger a slump in sales.

House price falls in July were more widespread than at any point since 2009, according to Rics’ UK residential market survey of estate agents.

At the same time, the net balance of agents reporting a downturn in agreed sales has more than quadrupled since May. The slump in house sales recorded in July was comparable to that seen during 2007, Rics said.

Meanwhile, expectations of a rise in rents hit a fresh record high as tenant demand continues to soar and more landlords quit the sector.

Despite some lenders cutting rates in recent weeks, Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at Rics, said that an uptick in mortgage approvals was likely to be reversed in the coming months as the Bank of England continues to raise rates.

He added: “The continued weak reading for the new buyer