A report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) suggests that house prices have further to fall, but there are tentative signs that the slide in housing transactions are starting to level out.

Its monthly survey shows market conditions are still slackening, with surveyors reporting a further drop in new instructions and new buyer numbers, and reduced numbers of completed sales.

Considered as one of the best guides to the direction of house prices, the ratio of completed sales to stocks of unsold property fell again from 18.2 percent in May to 17 percent in June, which is the lowest level since 1995.

Furthermore, with price indices by main lenders showing double-digit year-on-year declines few in the industry hold out hope for any rapid improvement. RICS said a net balance of 83.9 percent of surveyors thought house prices had fallen in the past three months, while a balance of 68 percent expected further declines.

Estate agents however are less worried about the outlook for prices than they are about the near-freeze in activity. First time buyers are struggling to get a foot on the property ladder due to tight credit conditions, while others are avoiding buying in a falling market.

Bank of England data shows that mortgage rates on popular fixed-rate mortgage products have edged down, partly because of a fall in swap rates determining leaders’ funding costs.

For a borrower with a 25 percent deposit, the average rate quoted for a two-year fixed rate mortgage fell from 6.6 percent in June to 3.6 percent in July.

However, Simon Hayes, an economist at Barclays Capital, said lower rates were balanced by more stringent credit checks and non-price criteria. “They would probably have little effect on mortgage activity, which had been much weaker in recent months than the level of rates would justify,” he said.

Michael Saunders, economist at Citi, noted rates for unsecured loans had risen, giving an “overall picture … of poor credit availability and tightening lending standards”.