Property market 'under pressure' as government cuts kick in

2010/10/16 by homesplaces.co.uk about : - 0 Comments - 222 words

Economic austerity measures have already begun to destabilise the housing market ahead of the government’s spending review next week.

Three-quarters said the cuts had already begun to have an impact on market sentiment.

A quarter of surveyors said that public sector workers, who face job cuts and pay constraints, had either put off buying property or were more willing to sell.

Estate agents in Wales – a stronghold of public sector employment – were by far the most negative, with almost half saying that government workers were being restrained by the threat to their jobs.

More broadly, the Rics member surveyors showed the threat of private sector job cuts was also having an effect on the housing market, with a fifth of those in the survey saying there had been a rise in forced sales because of unemployment, or the prospect of worsening job conditions.

Wales again emerged as a hotspot for these fears, with almost half of those surveyed saying that there had been more sales instructions and a fall in buyer inquiries owing to fears over government actions.

The results of a poll carried out on behalf of the FT in a national survey conducted by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors suggest the housing market is coming under pressure, in particular in areas expected to bear the brunt of job and spending cuts.

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