Housing demand wanes as buyers bank on interest rate cut

A survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found that demand had weakened in May.

Tarrant Parsons, senior economist at RICS, said a recent recovery in the housing market “appears to have slipped into reverse of late” which he blamed on higher mortgage rates in the past couple of months.

However he predicted that this was “delaying, rather than derailing, a modest improvement going forward”.

“Indeed, respondents continue to envisage a more positive trend in sales activity coming through over the year ahead, although this is likely predicated on the Bank of England being able to start lowering interest rates in the coming months.”

Those surveyed by RICS said that demand was weakest in both south east and south west England.

In contrast, prices were still robust in Scotland and Northern Ireland.