More properties coming on to the market did not stop house prices rising in October, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
The institution’s figures showed an increase from 21 per cent to 34 per cent in the number of surveyors reporting a price rise rather than fall last month — the third positive month in a row.
London led the way, where the percentage of surveyors reporting price rises was at a 13-year high of 95 per cent. The proportion of surveyors with more new instructions was 15 per cent,against September’s 5 per cent.
New buyer enquiries continued to grow, with 31 per cent of surveyors reporting a rise rather than a fall, slightly down on the 35 per cent recorded in September.
RICS said that the increase in transactions slipped slightly over the month, with 29 per cent of surveyors reporting a rise rather than a fall, from 32 per cent the previous month. Despite the modest fall, th three-monthly rate of sales per surveyor nudged up from 18.5 to 19.
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The institution said that the stock of unsold properties on agents’ books remained unchanged, at 64, for the third consecutive month, causing the closely watched sales-to-stock ratio, an indicator of future prices, to rise for the tenth consecutive month,to 30.