Olympics distracted house buyers in UK

The number of potential home buyers looking to view properties here dipped in August as the Olympics provided a distraction - although overall sales held firm, surveyors reported Tuesday. In the three months to August, chartered surveyors sold on average 7.5 percent of the homes on their books per month, a figure which has remained consistent throughout 2012, the latest Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors "RICS" UK housing market survey said. With the London 2012 games taking place, a net balance of nine percent more surveyors reported falls in demand, compared to four percent more in July, RICS added. Ian Perry, RICS spokesperson, said: "Little changed in the housing market last month. Despite the Olympics taking centre stage throughout much of August, it didn't have any real impact on the proportion of sales going through. "Understandably, the amount of people out looking at property fell away slightly but, generally speaking, demand held up fairly well." The housing market has struggled since the withdrawal of a property tax exemption for first-time buyers at end of March, and confidence was hit by the weakening economy and the ongoing eurozone debt crisis, experts said. Elsewhere, RICS said the number of new instructions was unchanged on the July figure, while prices continued to edge lower in August, albeit at a slower pace than in previous months. A net balance of 19 percent more respondents reported price falls rather than rises, from 23 percent in July. London was the only part of the country to report a positive reading for prices, while surveyors in Northern Ireland, the West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside reported the weakest readings. Looking ahead, chartered surveyors across the country predict transaction levels to pick up slightly as autumn approaches, with 12 percent more respondents expecting sales to rise rather than fall over the coming three months.