The number of homes being sold at auctions in Britain has fallen to a three-year low, figures showed today.
Just 57 per cent of properties that were put up for auction during the final three months of 2007 sold, compared with 69 per cent during the same period of 2006, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
The group said a total of 7,732 properties went to auction during the fourth quarter, close to historically high levels. But just 4,539 of these sold, leaving 3,310 unsold - 50 per cent more than a year earlier.
RICS blamed the fall in auction sales on a combination of greater uncertainty about the housing market, as well as tighter mortgage lending conditions as a result of the credit crunch.
The group also said there had been a 50 per cent jump in the number of repossessed properties that went under the hammer, as increasing numbers of people struggled to keep up with their mortgage repayments following last year's interest rate rises, as well as problems remortgaging.
It warned that this trend looked likely to continue, adding that the number of homes that are repossessed could rise by 50 per cent during 2008.