A "listless" supply of homes on the market is continuing to push house prices higher in many parts of the UK.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) says that on average there were just 59 properties on surveyors' books per branch in January, marking the lowest number in four-and-a-half years.
The latest housing market survey found some surveyors are expecting to see the number of homes coming up for sale rising in the coming months due to a seasonal "spring bounce".
But it warned: "It remains to be seen whether any increase proves to be sufficient to meet the higher level of demand."
The report also found evidence of "increasing conviction" that house prices will continue to rise in the medium term. On average, surveyors expect prices across the country to rise by more than 6 per cent a year for the next five years.
Rics said on Thursday its findings show that the cost of a home in the UK has now been rising for just under a year.
House prices continued to grow in every part of the UK last month, "with the gap between listless supply and rising demand not seeing any considerable change", it said.
A net balance of 53 per cent of surveyors across the country reported prices rising rather than falling in January.
As the number of properties on surveyors' books slips back, the typical number of sales being made per branch is "within a whisker" of being at its best levels since early 2008, the report said.
On average, just over 21 homes were sold per branch in the three months to January, up from 16 typically during the same period a year earlier.
