Signs worst of housing market slump over

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said today there were signs that the worst of the slump in the Scottish housing market may be over.

House sales look set to continue to rise over the next quarter, they said.

The findings are contained in Rics’s housing market survey for December, which concluded that the positive outlook comes at a time when confidence is growing.

With transactions expected to increase, demand from would-be buyers remained positive last month, with the number of homes coming up for sale also increasing, the study finds.

Sarah Speirs, Rics Scotland director, said: “As we start the new year, confidence in the housing market does appear to be improving, with Rics members predicting that transaction levels will continue to increase in many parts of 
Scotland.

“However, despite these tentative signs of recovery in the sales market, more still needs to be done to ensure potential buyers can access the market at every level.”

Across the UK, London bucked the overall trend in December and saw significant increases in prices, while the North East and Wales saw the biggest drops.