House prices are falling across the country.

House prices are falling across the country, with estate agents at their most gloomy since 2009 and more than two-thirds of the most expensive properties selling for below their asking price, a survey showed today. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its house price balance, which measures the difference between the percentage of surveyors seeing rises and falls in house prices, fell to minus 48 in February from minus 46 in January, the lowest figure since April 2009. The professional body also found that 70 per cent of properties marketed for £500,000 or more sold for less than their asking price, a figure that dipped to 60 per cent for less expensive ones. In addition, data from the Bank of England this month showed that the average interest rate on new mortgages rose to 3.9 per cent in January, the highest since 2010.

Gabriella Dickens, an economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, the consultancy, said prices would probably fall over the coming months to roughly 8 per cent below their August 2022 peak. Martin Beck, chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club, a forecasting house, predicted a larger peak-to-trough fall of 10-15 per cent. With many people unable to afford a mortgage or a deposit, the letting market continued to grow in February. Tenant demand increased to a net balance of 32, while rent price expectations for the next quarter remained elevated at 45.

The survey also showed some early signs of stabilisation in the sales market, with the balance of new buyer inquiries rising from minus 45 to minus 29 months on month.

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