Estate agents are struggling to find homes to sell, with the average number of listed properties per branch falling to a near-record low.
The number of properties listed at each branch fell to an average of 42 last month, according to the residential market monthly survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
The organisation, founded in 1868, polls more than 300 estate agents covering almost 600 branches around the country and is used by the government and the Bank of England as an indicator of market conditions.