Until last month, interest from would be buyers had remained relatively subdued since December 2009. However, during October chartered surveyors reported a considerable rebound in new buyer enquiries with a net balance of 18% more respondents reporting rises.
The report says that it appears that the growing optimism shown in recent months may slowly be translating into an upturn in activity.
Alongside this, the amount of homes coming onto the UK market also saw an improvement, as supply rose at its highest rate since April 2011. Last month, 12% more respondents reported rises rather than falls in vendors placing their properties on the market, up from 5%.
With demand seeing an upturn in fortunes, prices across the UK continued to stabilise with a net balance of 7% more surveyors reporting drops. While still in negative territory, falls have now continued to slow for three consecutive months and this represents the least negative reading in over two years.
Despite the overall market picture seeing a gentle improvement across the country, this did not necessarily translate into a significant boost in sales. In the three months to October, UK surveyors sold on average 15.2 homes from 14.9. While representing a small upturn on the previous month
