House prices were driven up again in April as the data showed the third consecutive monthly decline in supply with new instructions falling at their fastest rate since May 2009, according to the latest RICS UK Residential Market Survey. While 33% more surveyors saw prices rise in April, the highest reading since last summer, new instructions slipped to a net balance of -21% - the eighth consecutive drop in the last nine months. Moreover, the flow of second hand stock onto the market dropped in most parts of the country.RICS says anecdotal evidence suggests the trends may in part been a result of uncertainty ahead of the election, but they are also reflective of deeper underlying problems. “The downward trend in owner-occupation rates across the country is a visible sign that affordability constraints bite ever deeper, as does the squeeze on household budgets from higher rents.”

House prices could rise by 25% according to RICS as stock availbalbe to buy falls to a new low. House prices rose again in May, and at a quicker pace than in April, but the stock of homes for sale fell to a record low since the data series began in January 1978, according to the latest RICS UK Residential Market Survey. While 34% more surveyors saw prices rise in May (the same month in which the Nationwide Building Society estimated that the average price of a home in the UK has now climbed to £195,000), supply to the market declined for the fourth consecutive month with 19% more surveyors reporting a drop in new instructions. “The feedback we are getting in the survey, which points to prices at a headline level rising by another 25% over the next five years, suggests that there is no real confidence that the measures necessary to deliver a meaningful boost to new supply will be put in place anytime soon,” said RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn.