The institute said that its study of chartered surveyors had seen a 15% rise in the number of respondents reporting a falling supply of new houses entering the market.

Market demand fared much better with 5% more surveyors witnessing a rise in demand, despite a month of poor weather across much of the country. However, around a quarter of surveyors reported falls rather than rises in prices compared to the previous month.

The number of completed sales per surveyor fell to 15.1 in the month with the report stating that low levels of consumer confidence are to blame for the slow market.

RICS also said its members had pointed to the difficulties in obtaining mortgage finance as a reason for the slowdown, with interest in the government’s NewBuy scheme also having waned in recent months.

Surveyors continue to be pessimistic about future prices with 23% more respondents predicting house prices will fall than did a month ago. However, the mood regarding transaction levels continues to be positive, with 14% more forseeing rises in activity.

Peter Bolton King, global residential director at RICS, commented: “Despite the terrible weather seen in many parts of the county last month, a steady number of potential buyers still got out there to test the market.

“However, this didn’t result in a higher level of actual transactions. Fewer sellers are putting their homes up for sale and the ongoing problem of accessing affordable finance is not helping.

“If vendors want to sell their homes quickly, they will have to be realistic in their price expectations.”