Research sources say the housing market has experienced some “rest” in recent weeks as mortgage rates ease after a tough 2023.
A December report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said that while inquiries from new buyers had fallen in recent months, the trend was nearing a flattening.
A Rix survey of real estate professionals found that while new contract sales are still declining, they are at their lowest since at least March 2022.
Experts predict a strong recovery in home sales volume in 2024.
The report also said that it now takes an average of 18 weeks to complete a sale, compared to an average of 20 weeks in September 2023.
Ricks said house prices continued to trend downward in December, but negative pressure on prices was easing.
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Looking to the next three months, prices are expected to continue falling and stabilize by the end of the year.
The latest opinion on house price forecasts remains mixed across the UK, with experts in Northern Ireland, north-west England and Scotland predicting house price increases in the next 12 months, the report said. . In the rental sector, tenant demand increased throughout the month.
Mr Ricks said the lack of available properties in the rental market continued to support rising rental prices.
The long-term forecast is for rents to rise nearly 4% over the next year, with average annual growth of 5% over the next five years, according to the report.
Tarrant Parsons, senior economist at Rix, said: “2023 has been a particularly difficult year for the UK housing market, but there seems to be some calming down in recent weeks.”
“Buyer demand remains stable, supported by the recent easing in mortgage rates, and we expect this to lead to a slight recovery in home sales volumes in the coming months.”
“Nonetheless, next year's lending environment is expected to remain more restrictive than in much of the post-GFC era, with any pick-up in lending activity likely to be limited for some time. .”
Tom Bill, head of UK housing research at Knight Frank, said: 'The predictable result of mortgage lenders cutting interest rates is that demand will rise and the UK housing market will bottom out from falling prices. That's what it seems like.'' We expect UK prices to rise 3% this year and sales volumes to increase from their low levels in 2023 as the economic turmoil of recent years fades. ”
