There was a drop in house sales activity in December according to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) survey, suggesting that the overall housing market might be slowing.

A negative net balance of one per cent of chartered surveyors saw a fall rather than a rise in sales last month, according to RICS.

The net balance is the proportion of respondents reporting an increase in sales minus the proportion reporting a fall.

Sales slowdown

RICS

There was only a positive net balance of 4 per cent of respondents to the survey anticipating an increase in sales over the next three months, down from 18 per cent previously.

However, most surveyors still expect prices to continue rising, despite the sales slowdown.

The housing market has held up better than widely expected in the wake of the Brexit vote last June.

The Treasury had forecast before the vote that average house prices could be up to 18 per cent lower, relative to otherwise, by 2018 if Britain voted to Leave.

But the latest Office for National Statistics estimate of the rate of annual house price growth in November was 6.7 per cent, higher than October’s 6.4 per cent, albeit down from a 9 per cent growth rate in June 2016.

The latest RICS survey showed a positive 24 per cent price increase balance for December, down from 29 per cent in November.

And there was a positive 12 per cent balance of surveyors expecting continued price rises over the next three months.

For the next year the positive expectations balance for prices was 49 per cent.

Prices still expected to rise

RICS

The most subdued expectations for prices were in the central London market.