london june 8 reuters  britains housing market showed some improvement in may but further interest rates increases by the bank of england are expected to put more pressure on demand and on prices in the coming months an industry survey showed on thursday the royal institution of chartered surveyors rics measure of new buyer enquiries rose to a net balance of 18 the least negative figure since 14 in may 2022 and up from 34 in april a gauge of agreed sales rose to 7 in may up from aprils 18 rics house price balance which measures the difference between the percentage of surveyors seeing rises and falls in house prices increased to 30 last month from 39 in april a reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a reading of 38 however analysts are forecasting another slowdown for the housing market with markets largely expecting the boes bank rate to peak at 55 later this year up from 45 now it seems storm clouds are gathered with the uks stubbornly high inflation likely undermining the recent improvement in activity tarrant parsons senior economist at rics said britains housing market staged a recovery earlier this year after former prime minister liz trusss minibudget caused turmoil in financial markets in september and sent the cost of fixed mortgage rates sharply higher to above 6 but there have been signs of a fresh loss of momentum in the market recently britains biggest mortgage lender halifax on wednesday said house prices dropped by 10 yearonyear in may the first annual decline since 2012 rival nationwide last week reported a 34 annual fall in prices the largest since 2009 the boe which has raised borrowing costs 12 times in a row since late 2021 is expected to increase bank rate again to 475 on june 22 in an effort to bring inflation  which was a higherthanexpected 87 in april  back to its 2 target some mortgage lenders including halifax and nationwide building society have ramped up their fixed mortgage rates in response to the rise in borrowing costs in financial markets