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British house price inflation slowed last month to its
weakest since just after last year's Brexit vote, but this time domestic
political worries played the greatest role, a property industry body
said on Thursday.
The Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors (RICS) said its monthly house price index dropped to +7 in
June from +17 in May, its lowest since July last year and below all
forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists.
"The term
'uncertainty' is featuring more heavily in the feedback we are
receiving," RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said. "This seems to be
exerting itself on transaction levels, which are flatlining and may
continue to do so."
RICS asked its members about the
main reason for slowing property sales. Some 44 percent blamed domestic
political uncertainty after Prime Minister Theresa May unexpectedly
failed to win a parliamentary majority in a June 8 election.
Just 27 percent cited Britain's looming departure from
the EU. But Brexit and property taxes were a bigger factor in London,
where luxury property in the center continued to see widespread price
drops.
Prices also fail slightly in surrounding areas
of southeast England, but rose strongly in most of the rest of England,
as well as in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
"The
latest results demonstrate the danger, however tempting, of talking
about a single housing market across the country," Rubinsohn said.
A
shortage of homes for sale remained a problem, too, he said. The number
of houses being put up for sale fell for a 16th consecutive month, and
estate agents had a record-low amount of property to sell.
