The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), a UK property professionals’ organization, that the balance of polled real-state agents reporting falling house prices printed at -44.1% in May, the lowest in 18 months. Looking at the details of the survey, 6% of respondents said prices rose while 52% said prices remained the same; 42% said prices had fallen from the previous month, the smallest percentage since November 2007. RICS spokesman Ian Perry said “the housing market [appears] top be close to bottoming out with activity picking up in a material way and prices at last stabilizing.” Perry did qualify his optimism, however, saying “it is important to remember that the lack of supply has been as important in underpinning prices as the rise in demand.” Indeed, the number of properties on agents’ books fell 35% in the year to May, the largest annualized decline in 5 years.
