UK’s protracted exit from the EU is hitting home sales and purchases

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The ongoing Brexit impasse is forcing people to reconsider selling their homes, according to the RICS, with new instructions sliding and sales remaining subdued.

In its UK Residential Market survey for September the RICS said the net balance of new instructions had fallen to their weakest point in more than three years.

The number of listings coming onto the market fell for the first time in four months, with survey respondents citing a “Brexit impasse” for putting off sellers.

And buyer enquiries also fell to a net balance of -15% in September.

Looking out across three months sales expectations were also subdued, with a net balance of -9%.

But in the longer term the survey found 18% more respondents expected house prices to pick up in the coming year.

Simon Rubinsohn, the RICS’ chief economist, said Brexit held less sway in the regions than in London and the South-east.

But he added that unless there was a “speedy resolution to the ongoing impasse it does seems inevitable that the stand-off between purchasers and sellers will deepen, making it harder to complete transactions”.

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