UK data - RICS monthly house price balance for March +11% (expected +10)

Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

House price balance in March +11

• expected +10%, prior +29%

House prices and activity had been picking up since the start of 2020, helped by reduced Brexit related uncertainty. March data is prior to the lock down impacting.

RICS :

• "As agents close their doors due to the lockdown, the spread of the virus across the UK has led to a near standstill of the housing market"
• Sales expectations for the next three months are now the weakest of any time since RICS started surveying its members on this in 1998
• price expectations for the coming months are the lowest since the financial crisis
• "The legacy of COVID-19 could be such that any return to what might be described as 'normality' in the economy will take time and households will remain cautious for a while"