Surveyors say house shortage is lifting prices
A SHORTAGE of homes is forcing up house prices across the whole of the UK, according to a leading survey published this morning.
The alarming figures follow a separate data release yesterday which showed mortgage-lenders ramping up loans to first-time buyers who are anxious to get on the housing ladder.
Demand in the market appears to be stoked by increasing consumer confidence, as well as government programmes such as Help to Buy.
Lending to first-time buyers soared by 37 per cent in the final month of last year compared to 12 months earlier, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday.
Total loans to people buying a new home were down one per cent in December compared to November, but still up 27 per cent on a year earlier.
Yet supply is continuing to fall behind, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reveals today.
The number of houses coming up for sale last month was the lowest since July 2012, it said.
“There are simply not enough properties to satisfy demand,” RICS director Peter Bolton King said.