RICS forecasts 6% house price rise for 2016

House prices in the UK will see an average increase of 6% over the course of next year, according to the RICS housing forecast for 2016

The RICS consider that this price growth will be a reflection of a continuing shortfall in supply to the market. However, they do expect  the number of transactions to edge up to between 1.25 and 1.3 million (from 1.22 million in 2015) and consider that government initiatives hold out the prospect of a further material uplift in the new home development pipeline.

Housing has clearly leapt up the Government’s agenda, but despite the raft of initiatives announced over the past year, the lags involved in development mean that prices, and for that matter rents, are likely to rise further over the next twelve months. Lack of stock will continue to be the principal driver of this trend, but the likely persistence of cheap money will compound it for the time being.

Looking further out, there is some justification for a more optimistic view of new build with significant incentives being put in place to deliver starter homes. While this may not on its own stem the upward trend in house prices, it could help to slow the rate of growth to something closer to the probable rise in household incomes.

Critically, the RICS principal concern with the measures announced by the government is that they are overly focused on promoting home ownership at the expense of other tenures. Discouraging buy-to-let could see private rents take even more of the strain if institutional investment doesn’t increase significantly, particularly given the likely reduced flows of social rent property going forward.

With house prices predicted to rise across the whole of the UK in 2016, East Anglia is continuing the trend seen in that region during 2015 with the highest predicted rise at 8%. Meanwhile, the North East is likely to see more modest price rises with our predicted increase for 2016 at 3%.

The strongest areas of the UK for transaction levels are likely to continue trends seen in 2015, with the North East, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland outpacing the rest of the UK.

Tony Wing DipSurv MRICS FNAEA
Sales Director
Lincoln Office
Email: tonywing@robert-bell.org
Tel: 01522 538888
Twitter: @robertbellandco

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