A prominent analyst says her reading of the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors market snapshot makes her believe more house price falls are on the way.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: “August is always quiet, but this year it was deathly. Higher mortgage rates chased buyers out of the market, and those who remained sat on their hands in the hope that house prices would keep dropping. They’re likely to get what they wish for.”

The latest RICS snapshot says that house price falls accelerated in August with their most negative reading since 2009. Buyer demand and sales fell sharply too.

Sales saw their weakest reading since the first tough few months of the pandemic and each sale is now typically taking 20 weeks from listing to completion on average – up from 16 weeks in late 2021.

Meanwhile demand for rental properties powers ahead of supply yet again, leading Coles to anticipate that more sales will struggle – an ideal opportunity for landlords to avail of lower prices.

She says: “Prices are falling, but not fast enough to convince buyers to take the plunge. Those who are prepared to make an offer are driving a hard bargain. Zoopla figures in June showed 42 per cent were negotiating a price cut of over five per cent – the biggest proportion since 2018. 

”Sellers, meanwhile, are refusing to budge as far as they need to in order to secure a sale. It means fewer sales, and it’s taking much longer for property to shift. 

“Sluggish sales have a knock-on effect, because it gets more difficult to put a chain together. Even when they succeed, it takes so long that buyers get cold feet about paying a price they offered months ago. They want to pull out or renegotiate, and as a result, it’s getting harder to keep chains intact.

“There is some hope that the usual pick up in September will make a difference. However, with prices still high and rates only coming down very slowly, we may have to wait longer for buyer enthusiasm to return. The question is how much damage will be done to house prices in the interim.”