HOUSE prices and the number of potential new buyers rose in the South West last month, bucking the national trend according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) UK residential market survey.

In the region 23 per cent more chartered surveyors saw an increase of new buyer enquiries in December and 22 per cent more respondents in the South West also reported seeing prices continue to rise.

This was in contrast to the UK picture as a whole. Across the UK 10 per cent more surveyors saw the number of potential new buyers decrease in December and London saw the weakest demand with 45 per cent more surveyors reporting a decline in enquiries – the eighth consecutive monthly decline.

Roger Punch, South West residential spokesperson for RICS, said: “Confidence appears to be steady, with a seasonally unusual strong midwinter market.

“The ripple seems to be moving west and suggests that we will have a good Spring ahead.

“In some areas, however, many properties remain optimistically priced and do need adjustment if they are to sell.”

Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, said: “The changes to stamp duty are expected to provide a timely boost to activity in the housing market across most of the country but there remains significant challenges particularly for first time buyers seeking to take an initial step onto the property ladder.

“Critically, the stock of property on the market continues to hover close to historic lows with new instructions to agents falling in 10 of the last twelve months.

“Indeed, there is a risk that with so little housing available, any pick-up in demand could rapidly feed through into higher prices rather higher sales.

“The RICS lead indicators do provide some encouragement that the level of housebuilding will continue to increase over the course of this year but even with further growth, the volume of home starts will still fall well short of the number of new household being formed let alone making a dent in the historic shortfall of housing across all tenures.”