Welsh house prices 'set to rise in New Year', says RICS

Welsh house prices are expected to rise in the New Year, but a lack of properties for sale remains a "concern", the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has said.

RICS said a 33% rise in enquiries by new-buyers suggested a recovery in the market yet new requests to sell fell for the sixth month in a row, by 25%.

The figures come from a residential market survey in November.

RICS spokesman Tony Filice said sales may "edge upwards" from early 2017.

The number of enquiries by new buyers rose at its fastest rate since July 2015, according to those who responded to the survey.

But the imbalance between the supply and demand of properties has led surveyors to expect house prices to go up in the next three months.

'Overall slowdown'

Despite the lack of homes for sale, 59% of respondents anticipated a rise in sales, following on from a period in which newly-agreed sales failed to rise in four of the last five months.

Meanwhile, 7% more surveyors said prices fell in the past three months than those who said they rose.

Mr Filice, who is also director of Cardiff firm Kelvin Francis, said the survey showed an "overall slowdown in transaction activity since the spring".

"But there are signs that the numbers may begin to edge upwards in the early part of 2017, as buyer enquiries rose in November," he added.

"Indeed, in terms of availability, our experience is that many vendors are waiting until the New Year."

Roland James, of Kent Jones & Co in Wrexham, said the changes to stamp duty in April were still impacting on the buy-to-let market.