Property sales hit by freeze on prices

House prices have frozen across most of the country for the first time in a year, a report reveals today.

Research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) show prices falling in parts of southern England, and static in the Midlands and East Anglia.

There are some rises elsewhere but strong increases are restricted to the North-East and Scotland, and when Britain is looked at as a whole prices are stagnant.

Estate agents believe the five interest rate rises since November are discouraging buyers. New buyer enquiries have fallen in the past three months and the number registeringin July was massively down on the same period last year.

Month on month, more people were looking to sell in May and June but this trend ended in July. The number of houses for sale on surveyors' books remains at historically low levels.

Price monitor Hometrack found that house prices in London fell by 0.4 per cent in July, with falls as steep as 1.9 per cent in some areas.

But RICS believes the trend shows a correction, not a collapse, in the market. Its housing spokesman Ian Perry said: "This is a traditionally quiet time of year but still buyers and sellers are showing caution.

"When the market cools it provides an opportunity for first-time buyers. We expect steady demand for property as we go into the autumn."

Chartered surveyor Mark Chick, of Bective Leslie Marsh in Notting Hill, said: "The inactivity is due largely to the Bank of England and negative press over current values".

Meanwhile, a report by commercial estate agent Colliers CRE says there is little evidence to suggest consumer confidence will collapse if house prices fall.