LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - House prices in England and Wales suffered their most widespread falls since May 2009 last month, a survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed on Tuesday.
RICS's headline house price index dropped to -32 from -8, the sharpest one-month fall since June 2004, and newly-agreed sales suffered their biggest fall in two years.
These results are at the gloomier end of recent data on the British housing market, where transaction levels and prices have acted as a leading indicator for consumer spending in the past.
Mortgage lender Nationwide reported the sharpest drop in house prices since February last month, though the rival Halifax survey showed a rise.
Overall, surveys point to an end to the strong price gains seen since the bottom of a 20 percent slump in early 2009, with many economists forecasting falls for 2010 as a whole.
There were mixed messages on the future path for house prices from Tuesday's survey. RICS said the best leading indicator -- the gap between new instructions for sale and interest from new buyers -- narrowed for a second successive month, suggesting price growth.
However, the proportion of RICS members forecasting a fall in house prices over the next three months grew, with the future house price balance weakening to -38 from -28.
'Prices in many parts of the country may be slipping but this does appear to be encouraging hopes amongst surveyors that sales levels could begin to pick up as a result,' said RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf.
'That said, there can be little doubt that the restrictive attitude to the provision of mortgage finance will continue to limit transaction activity in the market,' he added.
The prospect of job losses in the public sector next year, when government spending cuts start to take effect, is also hurting prices.
(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Toby Chopra) (Reuters Messaging: david.milliken.reuters.com@reuters.net; david.milliken@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 5109) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
RICS's headline house price index dropped to -32 from -8, the sharpest one-month fall since June 2004, and newly-agreed sales suffered their biggest fall in two years.
These results are at the gloomier end of recent data on the British housing market, where transaction levels and prices have acted as a leading indicator for consumer spending in the past.
Mortgage lender Nationwide reported the sharpest drop in house prices since February last month, though the rival Halifax survey showed a rise.
Overall, surveys point to an end to the strong price gains seen since the bottom of a 20 percent slump in early 2009, with many economists forecasting falls for 2010 as a whole.
There were mixed messages on the future path for house prices from Tuesday's survey. RICS said the best leading indicator -- the gap between new instructions for sale and interest from new buyers -- narrowed for a second successive month, suggesting price growth.
However, the proportion of RICS members forecasting a fall in house prices over the next three months grew, with the future house price balance weakening to -38 from -28.
'Prices in many parts of the country may be slipping but this does appear to be encouraging hopes amongst surveyors that sales levels could begin to pick up as a result,' said RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf.
'That said, there can be little doubt that the restrictive attitude to the provision of mortgage finance will continue to limit transaction activity in the market,' he added.
The prospect of job losses in the public sector next year, when government spending cuts start to take effect, is also hurting prices.
(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Toby Chopra) (Reuters Messaging: david.milliken.reuters.com@reuters.net; david.milliken@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 5109) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.