FOR the fifth month running, there aren't enough properties coming on to the market in Northern Ireland to satisfy demand, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).
And as consequence, it is keeping prices moving upwards.
Nearly half of the surveyors responding to Rics' latest residential market survey also say they expect prices to rise over the next three months.
It comes as Halifax said that UK house prices have now climbed for 11 consecutive months, although it hints at signs of the market cooling off as households face a squeeze on their finances.
The mortgage lender said that while house prices continued to rise in May, with prices up 10.5 per cent in 12 months, it was slowest rate of growth since the start of the year.
The Rics survey said the imbalance of supply and demand is a pattern very familiar to the residential housing market in Northern Ireland.
Eight per cent of respondents reported an increase in new buyer enquiries in the May survey, but 25 per cent reported a fall in new instructions to sell, indicating that there is not sufficient stock coming onto the market for the increased number of potential new buyers.
Samuel Dickey, Rics' regional residential property spokesman, says: “Demand is still outstripping supply, a pattern that we’ve seen for many months now. But more vendors do seem to be coming to the market, and it’s encouraging to see surveyors expecting a rise in sales.
“More stock will assist in addressing the persistent issue of limited supply for prospective buyers. This limited stock has been maintaining strong house prices across all categories.”
Terry Robb, head of personal banking at Ulster Bank, which partners Rics in the monthly housing barometer, added: “Despite the pressures of the cost-of-living crisis and higher interest rates, the residential market continues to see modestly positive trends in new buyer enquiries.”
