RICS Say Rate Hikes Have Effected Housing Market

U.K. house prices continued to rise in June, although the pace of increase was more than cut in half from May to an 18-month low as four interest rate hikes in just 10 months have begun to take hold, according to a survey released by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on Wednesday.

The RICS survey showed that, in seasonally adjusted terms, the proportion of surveyors reporting a rise in house prices exceeded the proportion reporting a fall in prices by 10.6 percentage points, down from 22.5 points in May.

The survey indicates that house prices rose for the 20th straight month, although the June rate is well below the long-run average of 21.6.

"House prices have finally begun to cool significantly for the first time since the recent mini boom in the housing market got underway in 2006," said RICS spokesman Ian Perry. "Interest rate hikes have begun to effect the psychology of the market with potential new buyers starting to think twice before buying a home."