UK property market remains subdued with sales down for 16 months in a row

Sales activity in the UK housing market remains subdued and the trend is likely to continue as a slight improvement in supply is expected to be short-lived, according to the latest residential market survey. Newly agreed sales keep on falling and have done so for 16 months in a row, according to the June survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RTCS) with 7% more respondents reporting a fall in agreed sales. The number of people looking to buy remained flat in June, prolonging the trend which dates back to late 2016. RICS says that this is likely to persist through the second half of the year with the time taken to complete a sale edging up from around 16 weeks in the Spring of 2017 to around 18 weeks at present.