13.05.202108:23:00UTC+00UK House Price Growth Accelerates In April: RICS

UK house prices climbed notably in April as the increase in demand increasingly outstripped supply, monthly survey results from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, or RICS, showed on Thursday.

The house price balance rose to 75 percent in April from 62 percent in March. All regions showed sharp pick-up in house price inflation.

A headline net balance of +44 percent of contributors cited a pick-up in buyer enquiries in April, which was virtually unchanged from a reading of +43 percent a month ago.

The balance for newly agreed sales advanced to +34 percent, but down from +48 percent in March.

Looking ahead, near term sales expectations remained comfortably positive at the national level, posting a net balance of +23 percent.

The survey participants noted that the number of fresh listings arriving on the market is insufficient to match the current levels of demand. The net balance for new instructions fell to -4 percent.

Looking ahead, the near term price expectations net balance came in at +47 percent, marginally higher than the reading of +43 percent in the previous survey.

The market will undoubtedly cool as the rush to buy during the stamp duty holiday eases, Andrew Wishart, an economist at Capital Economics, said.

But with mortgage rates low and the economy recovering quickly, the recent increases in house prices are not likely to be reversed, the economist noted.