UK house price growth set to slow, says RICS!

The pace of house price rises will slow when tax changes take the heat out of interest from investors, surveyors suggest.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) predicted that the UK housing market will slow down over the next three months. In April, landlords and second home owners face a 3% stamp duty surcharge on new purchases.This would slow price rises, RICS said, but only in the short-term. Surveyors still expect house prices to rise by 25% over the next five years.

According to Simon Rubinsohn, the RICS Chief Economist, over the past three months we have witnessed a surge in buy-to-let activity, with investors rushing to purchase homes before the stamp duty surcharge comes into effect. As a consequence he considers it is inevitable that over the coming months, April's stamp duty changes will take a little of the heat out of the investor market. While there still remains significant doubts as to whether the government's plans to encourage a more robust development and construction pipeline will be sufficient to address the housing crisis, long-term price indications for the housing market remain strong."

East Anglia saw the most widespread house price rises in February, Rics suggested. Other surveys have suggested a pick-up in activity by landlords ahead of the stamp duty rises, but there is some disagreement among commentators over what effect this is having on the UK housing market as a whole.

Tony Wing DipSurv MRICS FNAEA
Sales Director
Lincoln Office
Email: tonywing@robert-bell.org
Tel: 01522 538888
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