Strong regional variation in housing market
Tuesday, 8 March 2011 5:09 PM
Britain saw increasingly noticeable regional house price variations last month, according to new research from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Its latest UK Housing Market Survey revealed that widening regional variation was led by an improvement in London, while large parts of the North, East and Midlands continued with a more downbeat outlook.
London was the only region to record a positive reading for house prices in February, with 14 per cent more chartered surveyors citing an increase in prices rather than a fall.
The national picture was somewhat different, with 26 per cent more members reporting a drop in property values as opposed to a rise.
However, sales expectations are said to look slightly stronger for the three months ahead, with 12 per cent more surveyors predicting an increase rather than a fall in activity.
Jeremy Leaf, RICS' housing spokesperson, commented: "Despite the more positive picture for some parts of the UK, the general mood is still a little flat.
"Broad trends in the survey indicate an increasing variation in the housing market across the UK with London and, to a lesser extent, the south-east operating in a very different orbit.
"Rather ominously, we have probably yet to feel the full impact of the public spending cuts which are likely to lead to further divergence in the regional property market," he added.
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