Buy to let landlords could see the value of their property investment portfolios increase due to the abolition of Home Information Packs (HIPs), according to new research.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) says 22 percent more surveyors reported a rise in the cost of property than a fall in May, up from 17 percent in April.
However opinion is mixed over the market’s short and long-term outlook.
The number of surveyors who saw an increase in homes for sale nearly doubled during May; 21 percent more said they had seen a rise in instructions during the month, up from 11 percent in April.
And the number of new buyers registering with chartered surveyor estate agents also continued to rise, although it increased at a similar pace as during April, with a balance of 10 percent of surveyors reporting a jump.
RICS spokesman Ian Perry said: “Surveyors are generally confident that sales will continue to pick up over the summer months.
“The increase in supply as a result of the abolition of HIPs is helping to support this optimism despite continuing concerns about mortgage finance.
“A higher level of instructions should, meanwhile, also lead to a flatter trend in house prices in the latter part of the year.”
HIPs were introduced in England and Wales in a bid to speed up the home buying and selling process by giving potential buyers more of the information they needed up front.
But estate agents had long campaigned for them to be scrapped, claiming the up front cost of the packs was deterring people from putting their home on the market.
Now the abolition of the packs is expected to boost the number of homes for sale by around 15 percent.
Activity levels in the market are expected to continue increasing during the coming months, with 31 percent more surveyors expecting a rise in sales than those who anticipate a fall.
However the picture on house prices was mixed across the country, with surveyors reporting price falls in Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside, and the West Midlands.
London led the rises, with 60 percent more surveyors reporting price increases rather than decreases over the past three months.
Paul Cocker, a chartered surveyor at Blundells in Sheffield, told the Guardian newspaper that mortgage availability was still the main factor affecting the market.
“Cutbacks in the public sector over the coming months are also going to have an effect on demand,” he added.
Meanwhile David Nesbit, a chartered surveyor at Nesbits in Portsmouth, said that while there would be “no tears” over the death of HIPs, “an explosion of instructions is hype and misleading.”
Other house price reports this month have presented a mixed picture of the market. Halifax said house prices fell by 0.4 percent in May, just a day after the Nationwide building society reported a 0.5 percent rise during the same month.
