Worst shortage in 4 decades drives up UK house prices

London

UK house-price growth accelerated for a fourth month in May as the shortage of properties for sale reached its worst level in almost four decades, a survey found.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said on Thursday that its price gauge increased to 34 from 32 in April. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast a reading of 36. In London, its measure jumped to the highest in almost a year.

Prices were driven by the continuing pressure on supply that many property agents had predicted might be alleviated after Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party unexpectedly won an outright victory in the May 7 general election. The stock of homes per surveyor has fallen 12 per cent this year to 52 properties, the lowest since records began in 1978. New buyer inquiries picked up …