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Two recent surveys suggest that the stagnating UK economy is unlikely to allow any “meaningful” house price recovery will occur for some time.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) warns that a “sustained” upturn in the housing market is unlikely until lenders make mortgages more widely available to the house-buying public.

Meanwhile, a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers says that further falls in house prices are likely this year and next.

According to the monthly RICS survey for June there is short-term optimism in the market - with surveyors reporting that they expect property prices are more likely to rise for the first time since mid 2007.

Six per cent more chartered surveyors said they expected price increases in June, compared with a rise of 11 per cent expecting falls in May’s survey.

Recent forecasts have also suggested that the risk of repossession is lower than previously expected.

A scheme in England offering free advice about repossessions has proved to be successful. Many people are getting the correct debt advice sooner rather than waiting until debt problems become insurmountable.

Price drop trend continuing

The recent official house price survey from the Government also reported falling property prices in May.

A monthly survey conducted by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has shown a trend of falling property values, albeit at a slower rate.

In the UK, average prices were 12.5% per cent lower in May 2009 than in the same month in 2008.

The same report says that prices dropped by 0.1 per cent between April and May, suggesting that this was primarily due to a falling values for semi-detached and detached houses. Although this was partly offset by rises in prices of other property including terraced houses, bungalows and flats.