Financial News: UK Housing Market Confidence Remains Fragile Amid Middle

UK Housing Market Confidence Remains Fragile Amid Middle East Conflict

(RTTNews) - UK housing market confidence remained fragile and forward-looking sentiment turned more cautious amid the escalation of conflict in the Middle East, the Residential Market Survey results from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' showed Thursday.

The headline house price balance fell unexpectedly to -12 percent from -10 percent in January. The balance was expected to improve to -9 percent.

RICS said the momentum seen at the start of the year have been tempered by heightened geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty following the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

In turn, near-term expectations suffered a renewed setback. However, the twelve-month outlook for the market remained broadly positive, the survey revealed.

Looking ahead, near-term house price expectations deteriorated further. A net 18 percent expects house prices to decline in the near-term compared to -6 percent in January.

Over the next twelve months, a net balance of +33 percent of contributors foresee house prices edging higher. But this was down from the +43 percent reading seen last month.

There was a fresh decline in new buyer enquiries in February due to renewed concerns about the interest rate outlook. The net balance dropped to -26 percent from -15 percent in January. The index for agreed sales posted -12 percent, weaker than -9 percent in the previous month. The near-term sales expectations fell back, with the index falling to -2 percent, the softest level since last November. Nonetheless, a net 17 percent still expects sales activity to pick up. That said, the reading was down from 35 percent seen in January.

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