2020.05.1404:07:00UTC+00UK House Prices To Fall Sharply In Months Ahead: RICS

British government's ongoing lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus are continuing to stifle activity across the housing market, survey results from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, or RICS, showed Thursday. The house price balance dropped into a negative zone after three successive months of positive readings in April. The house price balance came in at -21 percent compared to economists' forecast of -38 percent.

The near-term price expectations index fell deeply into negative 72 percent. Nonetheless, only -26 percent forecast a fall in house prices in a year's time.

A net balance of -93 percent of contributors reported a decline in new buyer enquiries in April. At the same time, new instructions to sell continued to fall back significantly with the latest net balance of -96 percent, the weakest since the inception of this series in April 1999.

Consequently, the newly agreed sales net balance decreased to -92 percent from -68 percent.

The survey showed that about 80 percent of contributors said they have seen buyers or sellers pulling out of transactions.