Rics: Property market will stagnate

Rics has said house prices will stagnate in 2019 and the number of sales will fall as Brexit and affordability constraints take their toll on the property market. Rics expects house sales to fall by 5% to about 1.15m compared with this year. Prices will be static in East Anglia and the south-west, but the body forecasts "solid momentum" behind price rises in Northern Ireland, the north-west, Scotland and Wales. Tarrant Parsons, Rics economist, said Brexit uncertainty had caused “greater hesitancy” – but a shortage of stock also continued to present buyers with limited choice, while stretched affordability is pricing many people out, he added. However Rics dismissed Bank of England projections of a possible 30% fall in house prices after a disorderly Brexit: "Some of the assumptions behind the disorderly Brexit scenario seem implausible to us.”

The Guardian (17/12/2018) City AM (17/12/2018)