Number of would-be homebuyers falls to 8-month low as UK economic anxiety deepens

Simon Rubinsohn, the chief economist at Rics, said the supply of homes was falling largely in line with declining demand, preventing a steep decline in prices. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

The steep rise in mortgage interest rates and anxiety about the prospect of an economic downturn sent new house buyer inquiries to an eight-month low in June, according to a survey of estate agents.

A fall in the number of buyers marked “a renewed deterioration in UK home sales”, said the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), which carried out the survey. However, the market was in better shape than the period after Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget last autumn.