The UK housing market is unlikely to see much change in 2019 with a continuation of weakening sales activity, according to the RICS UK Residential Housing Forecast 2019.  

The UK housing market has lacked impetus in 2018, having continued to struggle with uncertainty caused by Brexit; a lack of homes on estate agents books; affordability issues; and prospective interest rate rises.  

Looking ahead, RICS believes that it is unlikely that sales will grow in 2019. In the past two years sales activity has declined and annual completed transactions remain significantly below the 1.7m high achieved back in 2006.

RICS reported: “Given the obstacles in the current market it is anticipated that activity will weaken further. As sales activity continues to falter, house price growth will continue to fade in the first half of the year, and is expected to come to a standstill by mid-2019. As such, the RICS Housing Forecast 2019 suggests prices will neither grow nor fall in the near future (0%).”

The stagnation of house prices is underpinned by the lack of new properties being listed for sale. In the second-hand market, not enough properties have been listed to replenish those sold. This has been evident in the RICS data throughout 2018, as average stock levels remain near all-time record lows. The number of new properties being listed for sale has fallen consistently, and in November, almost half of survey participants reported the number of market appraisals undertaken over the month was down on the year before. All these indicators suggest it is unlikely that the coming months will see a marked increase in supply across the second-hand market.