House price momentum in the UK continued to slow and new buyer demand tailed off in October, according to the latest RICS report.

However, the Mortgage Advice Bureau reported a record month for mortgage applications in October.

Separately, LSL, parent company of national chains Your Move and LSL, said that in October, it had the highest number of sales since the recession.

LSL said that sales were up 9% on a monthly basis, driven by activity outside London.

But LSL underlined that October’s figures – the highest for seven years – were because of the number of deals that had been sitting in a pipeline which finally came to fruition.

According to the gloomy RICS, new buyer demand slipped for the fourth consecutive month with London bearing the brunt of the decline.

Meanwhile, stock coming on to the market remained at a low level in October, with agents having an ongoing challenge to secure adequate new instructions.

RICS economist Simon Rubinsohn said that with new instructions still flat, it “seems implausible” that a dip in demand would result in “much of a decline in house prices”.

At a national level, the slowdown in activity in the sales market is in marked contrast to the lettings market, where the RICS said tenant demand continues to grow strongly.

Meanwhile, and painting a somewhat different picture, the Mortgage Advice Bureau reported a record month for mortgage applications in October, up 13% from September, and the highest number so far this year.

It said that in the first ten months of this year, there were 11% more mortgage applications than in the whole of last year.