Housing market comes to a standstill

The housing market in the region has come to a complete standstill.

The March 2020 RICS UK Residential Market Survey results show that, despite the first few months of the year showing a marked pick-up in market activity, March will have a significant impact on the outlook for the rest of the year.

In March, after four successive months of increasing buyer enquiries, a net balance of -89% of respondents reported a fall in buyer demand. March also saw newly agreed sales drop across the region with 74% more respondents reporting a fall – down from 11% reporting a rise in February.

New homes coming onto the market also dropped sharply over the past month, with a net balance of -86% of respondents reporting a fall.

Looking ahead, two thirds of the North West respondents don’t expect sales to rise for the next three months, a net balance of -66%.

This is the lowest net balance ever seen in the survey since it began. The longer term outlook improves slightly, as looking forward to the next 12 months, 43% expect sales to fall rather than rise.

North West house prices rose in March, as 21% of participants reported a rise, albeit down from +35% in February.

Because of the restrictions placed on the market, 70% of respondents anticipate house prices across the region to fall in the coming three month. Despite respondents now expecting prices to fall over the coming twelve months, the net balance is less weak than the three month outlook with 24% expecting price reductions at the 12 month mark.

The North West lettings market has seen new landlord instructions fall with -33% more respondents reporting a decline. Tenant demand rose in March but at a slower pace than in February. The impact of the virus leads respondents to believe rents will fall in the coming three months.