British property market 'stabilising'

UK homebuyers are clinching smaller discounts on property prices as the housing market stabilises, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said.

Around 60 per cent of surveyors questioned in May said that the gap between asking prices and selling prices narrowed, while it widened in a survey last August, London-based RICS said yesterday. Homes are now selling at an average of 11 per cent below the asking price.

The report adds to evidence that the British housing market has endured the worst of the crash.

RICS said last week the market may be "stabilising" and mortgage lenders Halifax and Nationwide Building Society said house prices rose in May.

- BLOOMBERG