Housing market weakens as buyer demand and sales slip back, say surveyors

Home buyer inquiries and house sales slipped back further in August, with new instructions to sell falling for the first time in more than a year, according to surveyors.

Agreed sales slipped sharply, with a net balance of 24% of property professionals seeing transactions fall, up from a balance of 17% the previous month, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said.

Surveyors expect sales to remain largely stagnant over the next three months, the report said.

A net balance of 17% of property professionals reported new buyer inquiries falling in August, increasing from a balance of 7% who noted this in July.

Fall

And a balance of 19% of professionals saw house prices falling rather than rising.

More noticeable declines were reported in East Anglia and the South West of England, while Northern Ireland continued to buck the trend with rising prices, the report said.

In a sign of fewer fresh property listings, there was also a slight overall decline in new instructions from sellers, marking the first negative reading since June 2024. A net balance of 3% of professionals saw a fall in new instructions to sell.

In the lettings market, a balance of 37% of professionals saw a decline in landlord instructions, marking the steepest fall since April 2020.

Demand

But with tenant demand remaining resilient, rents were expected to rise by around 3% typically over the next year, Rics said.

Tarrant Parsons, head of market research and analysis at Rics, said: “With buyer demand easing and agreed sales in decline, the housing market is clearly feeling the effects of ongoing uncertainty.

“Concerns over the wider economic and fiscal outlook, combined with questions around the future path of interest rates amid stubbornly high inflation, are weighing on sentiment at this time.”