THE West Midlands is the only place in the country to buck the downward trend in house prices, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The most recent RICS Housing Market Survey found the West Midlands was the only region to register an underlying improvement for the three months to September.

The rest of the country saw house price inflation slow down to the lowest level since April.

Harvey Williams, RICS housing spokesman for the West Midlands, said a lot of people were delaying their decision to move due to economic uncertainty, but house prices continued to rise in the region, which could be due to a shortage of housing stock.

"The number of properties for sale dropped by 7.5 per cent in September," he said.

"With so little housing stock on the market, those that are for sale continue to fetch high prices.

"This is particularly noticeable given September to November is a traditionally hectic sales period before the Christmas slowdown."

Tim Gaston, who is residential partner at Humberts Chartered Surveyors, in Worcester's Foregate Street, agrees.

"August and September were generally quiet," he said.

"Buyers are becoming much more selective. The market is now slightly more price-sensitive."

Mr Gaston said both vendors and sellers were concerned prices would in the winter.

"We predict a slow winter with a number of vendors looking to market next spring," he said, adding the residential investment market remained "fairly active".

Meanwhile, Chris Smith, of Phipps & Pritchard chartered surveyors, which has offices in Bewdley, Stourport-on-Severn and Kidderminster, said the higher end of the market was "losing its appeal".

"We've seen a steady overall performance in all price ranges in Stourport and very healthy sales in the price range up to £100,000 in Kidderminster," he said.

"The average sale is in the mid-£100,000 bracket."