ESTATE agents and letting agents have shared their property predictions for 2018.

Looking ahead to the new year, the industry body for estate agents, NAEA Propertymark, says house prices may fall and first-time buyer stamp duty relief will not have "a real impact" on sales.

Meanwhile, the trade body for letting agents, ARLA Propertymark, predicts rent prices will continue to rise while rental stock falls.

Almost half of estate agents (43 per cent) expect house prices to drop next year, says Mark Hayward, chief executive of NAEA Propertymark.

Most agents (44 per cent) expect supply to stay the same while 29 per cent think it will decrease. One third (32 per cent) think demand will also go down - but almost half (46 per cent) expect it to stay the same.

The trend of renovating rather than moving is likely to continue, say estate agents, with 60 per cetn of them thinking that more homeowners will do this.

Mr Hayward said: "Our members want to see stamp duty relief rolled out nationally to all buyers, and hold out hope that housing stock will increase. This will be a case of ‘wait and see’ – the Government has made many such promises in the past which we’ve never seen translated into reality."

Meanwhile, on the lettings front, almost three in five agents think rents will go up next year - compared to 19 per cent who predict they will decrease.

Two thirds (62 per cent) expect the supply of rental properties to fall, and 53 per cent think demand for rented houses will keep on rising.

Chief executive David Cox said: "In terms of the supply of rental properties, which agents largely expect to fall, we need to remember that the minimum energy efficiency standards coming into effect in the new year could see up to 300,000 properties being taken off the market because they don’t reach the minimum requirements. This will also – in turn – push rent costs up."