The UK housing market continued to display a lack of momentum in December, with buyer interest edging lower and the changes to stamp duty for first time buyers having little immediate effect, according to the latest RICS UK Residential Market Survey.

After new buyer enquiries came close to stabilising in November, 15% more respondents noted a decline in demand in the month of December.

Eighty-six per cent of respondents reported no response from first time buyers following changes to stamp duty.

Respondents are more optimistic over the year to come with activity anticipated to pick-up across all regions/countries over the next 12 months.

Looking at supply, new instructions continued to decline nationally, extending a run of 23 months. There is however a possible improvement on the horizon with 23% of contributors nothing that appraisals were higher this December than last (compared to 15% of respondents in November).

Aldermore’s commercial director for mortgages Charles McDowell said: “We still believe the decision from the government to abolish stamp duty for first time buyers is a positive one for the market, and this is supported by our research which revealed three in 10 (30%) prospective first time buyers would consider accelerating their plans to buy a home when the Chancellor announced that stamp duty would be cut.

“However, this alone will not be enough to reignite the stagnant housing market. Alongside the fact the house-buying process itself is complex for many first time buyers, the underlying issue remains that more homes need to be built in the right places. Most importantly,these houses need to be affordable for first time buyers who are often being outpriced of the market.”

The RICS Residential Market Survey is a monthly sentiment survey of Chartered Surveyors who operate in the residential sales and lettings markets.

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