AROUND THE BLOCK: THE PROPERTY industry is desperate for a bit of good news – even it has to come from across the water.

This week President Obama saw “glimmers of hope across the (US) economy” while those much looked for green shoots have also been spotted in the UK property market.

There, according to the latest findings from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the housing market is showing signs of stabilising although at very low levels.

Its survey found that the number of sales per agent stopped falling in March with the average in the three months to March standing at 9.7 compared with 9.6 in the three months to February.

The proportion of surveyors reporting a decline in prices was 73.1 per cent more than those noting rises over the three months but the negative outlook was less gloomy in the three months to February when 78.1 per cent reported declining prices.

The number of new buyer inquiries rose for the fifth straight month and agents are making headway reducing the backlog of unsold homes on their books – the average number fell to 66.7 which is the lowest level since September 2007 and 25 per cent below the level of the previous year.