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Housing market starts to cool - but prices continue to climb

More signs that the housing market is starting to cool have emerged in new research - but that doesn't necessarily mean prices will drop.
The latest RICS Residential Market Survey has been issued covering June, showing how house prices are continuing to rise across the UK, albeit at a slower rate following fewer new buyer enquiries.
New buyer interest slipped for a third month running, with 27% of respondents reporting a fall in interest from would-be buyers - although that wasn't the case in London which saw a 7% lift in the number of enquiries. 13% of respondents reported a fall in newly agreed sales and looking ahead, 9% expect to see a fall in transactions in the next three months.
The lack of new stock is also continuing to hamper market activity – and RICS says it's this lack of stock that means that house prices continue to drift higher, despite the recent cooling in demand. Looking even further into the future, 37% of respondents can see prices climbing even further over the 12 months, but that's a sharp drop on the 78% who were making that prediction in February.
RICS chief economist, Simon Rubinsohn, says: "Pricing across much of the housing market remains resilient for now with a shortage of stock continuing to be a feature highlighted by many respondents to the survey. Although buyer enquiries have predictably slipped a little of late, this needs to be placed in the context of the healthy level of demand in previous months.
"A probably even more striking aspect of the latest report is the concern being voiced about the rental market. A combination of a lack of social housing development allied to more onerous changes in the private lettings market is exacerbating the imbalance between demand and supply leaving the rent expectations metric pointing to further strong growth in the midst of the worsening cost of living crisis."

We may be a way off the 340,000 new homes needing to be built each year across the UK to counter the housing shortage, but developments continue to come forward around the regions. In the last few days alone we've brought you stories of Avant Homes' work on houses on the site of the former American Adventure Theme Park in Derbyshire, plans to replace Birmingham's City Hospital with 800 homes and the sale of 460 acres of north Leicestershire countryside to make way for a new 'garden village' - to name but a few.

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This newsletter has recently talked about how office developers frequently explore new features to differentiate their work spaces from others. Rooftop gardens, classy restaurants and swish kitchens are where it's at for many - but how about this new office in Manchester, which is set to get its own rooftop swimming pool?

The 18-storey building would boast the UK's highest workspace rooftop pool if it gets approval, part of a 'holistic wellness centre' with a pool, a hydrotherapy vitality pool, hot and cold treatment rooms, fitness studio, yoga terrace, physio room, and changing and shower facilities.

Meanwhile in Newcastle, city centre workers at Bank House might not have a swimming pool to use as a perk, but they will have some of the best office views in the city. The huge 14-storey project, driven by real estate entrepreneurs the Reuben Brothers, is set to open next year, and these clever new images showcase the desk views tenants will have, before it's even been finished.

It's been a busy week for property around the BusinessLive network, so be sure to check out the commercial property section regularly.

Thanks for reading and catch up next week.

Coreena Ford

Business writer

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