LONDON, Feb 9 Reuters Britain39;s housing market suffered the most widespread price falls since 2009 last month as the run of interest rate increases over the past year weighed on wouldbe buyers, according to a survey published on Thursday.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors RICS house price balance, which measures the gap between the percentage of surveyors seeing rises and falls in house prices, fell to 47, the lowest since April 2009, from 42 in December.

A measure of interest from buyers also fell to 47, its lowest since October last year.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS, said the overall mood of the market as measured by surveyors remained subdued.

However, it is questionable how much downside to pricing there is likely to be given that recent macro forecasts from the Bank of England and others are now envisaging a less harsh economic environment this year, Rubinsohn said.

The BoE last week said Britain39;s economy would probably fall into recession in early 2023 and would only come out of it in early 2024, a shorter period of contraction than in its previous set of forecasts.

The RICS report showed surveyors were less pessimistic about the outlook than in December with a measure of expected sales over the next 12 months improving to 20 from 42.

Other housing market measures have also recently shown a loss of momentum following the surge in demand seen during the coronavirus pandemic.

A Reuters poll of economists and analysts in November…