The housing market had a slow month in June with house price inflation and buyer enquiries staying stagnant, a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has revealed.
And John Goodall, CEO and co-founder of buy-to-let specialist Landbay, says "political uncertainty" surrounding Brexit has had an impact on the survey results.
The RICS UK survey for the month showed a lethargic picture overall, with 7 per cent of firms questioned across the UK seeing a rise rather than fall in prices in June. But this is down from a balance of 17 per cent in May and is the lowest reading since July of last year.
Transaction levels fell for the fourth month in a row reflecting "both the lack of stock coming onto the market and a more cautious stance from buyers over recent months”. And Mr Goodall said: “Political uncertainty is always going to give people pause for thought when considering big transactions, so it’s not a huge surprise to see that fewer people have bought and sold houses over the summer.
"Beyond the political dimension, rising inflation and slowing wage growth are also dampening the purchasing power of aspiring homeowners, something which looks like it could be hitting demand, taking the edge off house price growth.
“With Brexit negotiations ongoing, and buyers facing a tighter set of borrowing criteria, we’re likely to see slightly lower levels of housing demand over the short to medium term. This puts extra emphasis on the buy-to-let market, which needs to house all of those that are yet to step onto the property ladder. If demand in the rental market rises as a result, we could see rents begin rising, and even catch up with inflation, before the year is out.”