Brexit bearing down hard on housing market, says RICS

In November the number of new sales listings coming on to the market fell at the fastest pace in over two years while the average estate agent stock level remains at a record low of 42 properties, says the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Brexit uncertainty and a lack of supply in the market are the main reasons for the current problems being experienced by its members, although among comments submitted by agents alongside the report, 70 out of 135 of them highlight Brexit-related problems. “I can’t recall a previous survey when a single issue has been highlighted by quite so many contributors,” says Simon Rubinsohn, Chief Economist at RICS (pictured, above). His survey features few nuggets of hope for the industry, revealing an overall weaker trend in the sales market both for supply and demand when compared to last month. Weakening sales It also expects the sales market to weaken in the coming three months, although it says prices are continuing to rise and a more stable market is expected later this year. Nevertheless new buyer enquiries weakened last month, as did new instructions, while the time it takes to sell a property stands at 19 weeks, the…