House prices continuing to rise in the West Midlands

House prices are continuing to rise in the West Midlands as an increase in the number of properties coming up for sale in the West Midlands is having little effect on the market

RICS UK Housing Market survey, published today, shows that eight percent more chartered surveyors in the West Midlands reported a rise in new properties coming on to the market in November than the previous month.

For the sixth consecutive month, more surveyors across the whole of the UK are reporting that the number of new instructions is increasing rather than falling.

However, demand is still outstripping supply with 28 per cent more surveyors nationally stating that enquiries from potential purchasers are rising rather than falling. This figure is slightly down on previous months, but still indicates strong interest from buyers.

Enquires in the West Midlands faired better than the national average with 27 per cent reporting a rise in activity, up significantly from a negative one percent the previous month.

RICS West Midlands spokesperson Richard Franklin, of Franklin Property Consultancy, said: “For the fourth month in a row prices are rising, even though the general economic conditions would suggest that the housing market should be slower than it is.

“Despite modest increases in the number of properties coming on to the market, it is clear that this is not significant enough to keep pace with the levels of demand.

“With buyer enquiries on the up and job losses slowing, the prospects are that the new year could see increased activity in the market at large. However, the loss of the stamp duty exemption is likely to impact on certain price bands which have been active of late. This is likely to be more relevant in the West Midlands than other regions.”

The supply demand imbalance has been the main factor influencing prices and unsurprisingly for the fourth month in a row the majority of surveyors in the UK are again reporting rising rather than falling prices.

Nationally a net balance of 35 percent of chartered surveyors agreed that prices were rising, compared to two per cent in the West Midlands.

Transaction levels remained broadly constant with sales per surveying firm in the West Midlands reporting a strong 24 over the past three months, compared to 19 per cent nationally.