House prices are likely to continue falling for another six months in the UK and for the whole of 2019 in London and the south-east, according to the latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Separate official government data shows that rents are also falling, with tenants typically paying £757 a month, down from £772 a year ago, continuing a pattern of declines that began after the Brexit vote in 2016.

The RICS said that its March poll of surveyors found a subdued picture across the UK, with sales weak and an eighth successive month of falling inquiries from buyers. The average time it takes to sell a property remains unchanged at 19 weeks, the joint longest period since the RICS started recording the data in 2017. It added that it takes longest to sell a home in the south-east of England, at 21.5 weeks on average.

The lacklustre sales market is deterring potential sellers from putting their homes on the market, said the RICS, adding: “The ongoing decline in new instructions being listed for sale has intensified of late.”

The surveyors’ body does not record house prices, but instead gives a net positive or negative balance about where surveyors reckon prices are heading. “The survey’s headline price net balance came in at -24%, from -27% previously,” said the RICS.