London leads house price slide
House prices have fallen for three months in a row with the biggest drop in the south of England, according to the latest figures.
In the three months to April, 31% more surveyors reported a fall in prices in the UK than reported a rise, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said.
The prospects for house sellers appear to be worsening with April's price falls dwarfing those of February and March.
But surveyors in London reported renewed interest from house buyers after the end of the war with Iraq.
North-south divide
In April, 51% more surveyors in the capital reported that house prices were falling rather than rising.
Uncertainty has been the underlying cause behind the depressed figures of the last three months.
Jeremy Leaf, RICS spokesman
And the majority of surveyors in the South East, East Anglia and the South West reported that prices were either static or falling.
But in the north of England price growth remained strong with 62% of surveyors reporting increases.
House prices in the North West, Yorkshire and Humberside also increased markedly.
Returning confidence?
But house sellers in the capital will be cheered by the news that surveyors in London noted the first rise in buyer enquiries since last September, and confidence was the highest recorded for more than four years.
'It's encouraging to see a return to confidence in the market," said RICS housing spokesman Jeremy Leaf.
"Uncertainty has been the underlying cause behind the depressed figures of the last three months, but we expect stable sales conditions to return this summer."
On Monday, a report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation suggested that a crisis in the supply of housing across the south of England would put home ownership beyond the reach of public sector and low-paid workers.
Mr Leaf's comments were echoed by economists at Capital Economics.
"We doubt whether the housing market boom will come to such an abrupt end halt as surveyors are suggesting," said Sabina Kalyan.
But she cautioned: "Today's numbers... are a powerful sign of the severity, if not the correct timing, of the correction that we can expect."
Last week RICS said it believed that prices would recover during the second half of this year with continuing low interest rates making home ownership attractive for many.
Overall, RICS predicted that house prices would rise by 10% during 2003 - down from close to 30% last year but still more than three times the rate of inflation.
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