Numbers moving home at record low

The availability of mortgages is expected to dip over the next three months

The number of people moving house is at its lowest level since surveyors started collecting records in 1978.

There were 15.3 transactions per surveyor during the three months to the end of June, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said.

Rics said that demand from buyers remained low with many of them unable to get mortgages.

But the number of surveyors reporting house price falls was not quite as high in June as it had been in May.

Rics spokesman Jeremy Leaf said that there were opportunities for some would-be buyers when the market was weak.

"With demand so low, would-be buyers are negotiating from a position of strength," said Mr Leaf.

"Even in a weak market there are always opportunities for investors and buyers to profit and some are starting to circle for bargains."

'Regional gloom'

There were 88% more surveyors reporting a fall than a rise in house prices in June, falling from 92.2% in May.

But surveyors in the West Midlands held a unanimous view that prices were falling.

With people still finding it difficult to secure mortgage deals, some 35% more surveyors reported a fall in inquiries from buyers than a rise in June.

Some surveyors reported that some buy-to-let investors were entering the market to take advantage of rising rent levels.

So-called "predatory buyers" were also stalking the market for big reductions during the depressed market conditions.

The report suggested there was little sign of repossessed homes being sold in large numbers because employment levels remained strong.

'Rents to rise'

The survey comes the day after a report for the Association of Residential Letting Agents said rents in the private rented sector would rise significantly in the short term.

In the report, Professor Michael Ball, of Reading University, predicted that rents would rise by 10% to 15% in both 2008 and 2009.

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Young people were delaying the age at which they bought their first home and this was taking some potential buyers out of the market, the report said.

Younger people were less likely to buy and, as a result, were less likely to fall into the spiral of negative equity that prolonged the housing market recession of the 1990s, it added.

House price surveys by lenders in recent days suggested that house prices continued to drop in June.

The Halifax said property prices fell by 2% in June, whereas rival Nationwide said prices dropped by 0.9% on average during the same month.

A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said the issues affecting the housing market were "global" and very different to the 1990s.

"We want to continue to ensure stability and fairness in the housing market," he said.

"The long-term demand for housing remains high and the fundamentals of the economy are sound with low unemployment and historically low interest rates."

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