The percentage of estate agents who reported a rise rather than a fall in new instructions jumped to 22 per cent in September, up from 12 per cent the previous month, according to the latest housing survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.  Ian Perry, a spokesman for RICS, said: “The fresh influx of property to the market combined with a lack of buyers remains the key problem affecting the sector. First-time buyers are in particularly short supply as the high deposits required by lenders prevent them from taking their first steps on the property ladder.  “Without sufficient demand property prices continue to slip back. It’s very much a buyers market at the moment.”  It comes after Britain’s largest mortgage lender Halifax said the price of the average home in Britain had fallen £6,000 in a month to £162,096.  Ben Hudson, a RICS member from North Yorkshire, described sales as “quiet”, saying: “Concerns over the economy continue. There are increases in the number of properties coming to the market and falls in the number of new buyers. The property market is once again on a knife edge.”  And Edward Waterson, a RICS member from Carter Jonas, said: “Buyers are becoming increasingly nervous of the economic climate.”  Buyers are also holding back ahead of the coalition’s unveiling of its much-anticipated Comprehensive spending review, next week.  Ian Briggs, a RICS member from West Yorkshire, said: “The impending spending review has without doubt, ‘spooked’ the autumn market.”  Concerns about the economy has led to a greater proportion of buyers choosing fixed rate mortgages, which guard against possible future increases in interest rates.  A total of 51 per cent of new mortgages were fixed rate deals in July, compared with 30 per cent that were trackers. New figures out tomorrow are expected to show even greater divide.
Britain&rsquo;s property market is on a &ldquo;knife edge&rdquo; as estate agents warn house    prices to fall further amid a sharp increase in property for sale.