During May, the average number of completed sales per surveyor in the region was 14. This represents a drop of 62 percent from May 2007's figure of 37 and goes some way to illustrating the extent to which market activity has fallen in recent years.
With transactions down and affordable mortgage finance now harder to come by, homes are taking considerably longer to sell. Indeed, during the three months to May, surveyors in the North East sold 12 percent of the homes on their books, a significant fall from the same period in 2007 (39 percent), when the market had reached an unsustainable peak.
Looking ahead, chartered surveyors in the area expect transaction levels to edge upwards over the coming three months, with a net balance 27 percent more respondents predicting rises, while expectations for future prices remain in negative territory.
Prices in the North East continued to fall last month as 11 percent more respondents reported falls rather than rises in prices.
Across the UK, the results in most parts of the country were consistent with prices edging downwards last month. The capital once again outperformed the rest of the country as the only area to record more surveyors reporting increasing rather than decreasing prices.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the amount of homes coming onto the market in the North East fell into negative territory last month with a net balance of -2 percent, whilst the level of new buyer interest remained in positive territory with a net balance of 16 percent.
RICS North East spokesperson, Richard Sayer of Rook Matthews Sayer said:
"Activity has levelled off in May, however it is still slightly up on 2011. Stock levels and sales are in harmony with no build-up of excessive stock and sales are transacting albeit slowly, which continues to be a feature of this recession.
Auction sales have been strong this year and prices are stable with no pressure to increase. However, it is unclear whether the poor weather, Jubilee and upcoming Olympics will reduce momentum further."
