On the 23rd of December the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) issued its periodic Housing Market Forecast for 2016. The report forecasts a 6% increase in residential property prices for the UK and a 5% increase for London – quoting a shortfall in supply. The authors explain: “One theme has dominated the private housing market this year, the dramatic fall in inventory on the books of estate agents. The reason has been pretty straight forward; there simply has been not enough properties coming back to the market to replenish the stock sold”.
Two other key themes in 2016 will be the expected rise in interest rates and the promised in-out EU referendum. Both matters may have little impact on the property market as it looks increasingly likely that interest rates will remain unchanged till the end of the year and the referendum pushed to early 2017.
