The housing market is not as buoyant as it has been reported to be in recent weeks

The housing market is not as buoyant as it has been reported to be in recent weeks.

Rightmove, Halifax, Hometrack and the Financial Times had all recently released studies reporting a rise in house prices and a strengthening of the property market.

However, earlier this week, National Homebuyers brought out a report based on data from independent chartered surveyors, which showed that the property market is far weaker than had been thought.

Around 90 per cent of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (Rics') members polled in the survey said that the market was "static" at best, with most of these saying that the market currently favours buyers.

Julian King, managing director of National Homebuyers, said: "Unfortunately, it's going to be another challenging year for sellers.

"National Homebuyers deals with hundreds of customers who are still finding it difficult to sell their property.

"While reasonably priced houses are selling well, too many vendors are given an inflated asking price, meaning their houses take longer to sell or stay on the market indefinitely."

Contrary to recent reports suggesting a thriving market, just 3.8 per cent of the surveyors polled thought the housing market is currently "buoyant" and just 1.6 per cent said it is improving.