House market picks up as estate agents reopen - RICS

(Sharecast News) - The housing market has picked up quickly since restrictions were eased, a closely-watched survey confirmed on Thursday, but house prices remain under pressure.
Estate agents were permitted to reopen and in-person viewings were restarted from the middle of May. As a result, the latest RICS Residential Market Survey showed a headline net balance for new buyer enquiries of -5%, a significant improvement on April's historic low of -94%.

The newly agreed sales indicator was -35%, compared to -95% a month previously, and near-term sales expectations were -4%. The 12-month sales expectation balance moved back into positive territory, from -6% in April to 10%.

New instructions were -20% compared to -97% in April.

However, the headline price indictor, which captures changes over the past three months, continued to contract, with May's national net balance coming in at -32%, a deepening on April's -22%. It was also the weakest monthly figure since 2010.

Near-term price expectations also remain depressed - at a net balance of -43% - with 12-month expectations still in negative territory, at -16%.

Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "May's RICS survey provides more evidence that housing market activity recovered quickly after the government permitted home-seekers to view properties in person, and surveyors to inspect properties again, in England on 13 May.

"Google Trends data also suggest that demand has rebounded: online search volumes for the three most popularly housing websites - Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket - averaged 76% of January's level in May.

"Housing supply, by contrast, has not recovered much yet. This, together, with the jump in demand suggests that house prices won't fall much immediately.

"We remain concerned, however, that housing demand will peter out later this year, once some of the pent-up demand has faded. Redundancies likely will mount in the autumn, when the job furlough scheme is eventually wound up."

RICS, which received 237 responses from the 479 surveyors, added extra questions in the May questionnaire on potential shifts in demand. Outside space is now seen as a premium, with 81% predicting there will be an increase in demand for properties with balconies or gardens, and 74% expecting properties near green spaces to prove popular.

Meanwhile, 78% believe properties in tower blocks will be less popular.