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West Midlands tops price slump

More surveyors in the West Midlands than anywhere else in the country have revealed the greatest price falls for July, according to the latest housing market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

The proportion of surveyors in the county to have reported a price fall of up to 2% was 25, with 19 having seen prices fall by as much as 5%.

This has resulted in a balance – the percentage of surveyors reporting a rise minus those having seen a fall – of -41, according to the survey out today.

This compares to surveyors in London where 24 revealed a price rise of up to 2%.

Overall, the price balance slipped from +8 to -8 during July, marking the first negative reading since July 2009, which RICS attributes to increasing new vendor instructions and falling new buyer enquiries.

Surveyors’ new instructions balance increased from +28 to +33, which is the highest reading since May 2007 while the new buyer enquiries balance fell for the second consecutive month from -6 to –10.

Transaction levels remained relatively stable, with the agreed sales balance edging down from +3 to +1.

Meanwhile, the average number of properties on surveyor’s books rose by 4.1% on the month to 69.1, with the average number of sales per surveyor flat at 16.6, which is a 0.1% decline on the month.

This has resulted in the sales to stock ratio – falling to 24% - the lowest level since June 2009.

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