Positive sentiment around the current state of play in the property market plays out in the latest RICS UK Residential Property Survey in which respondents indicate despite a broadly flat picture around demand and sales, agents remain upbeat about 2025, in part due to the number of properties continuing to come to market.
The slight stall in momentum around demand is evidenced by the slowly falling sentiment around the number of enquiries agents are receiving. From August 2024 respondents have steadily indicated demand growth has lost impetus; this is not to say demand has fallen as the positive figures from August indicate demand is still there, the strength of it is falling. January’s sentiment, at 0%, indicates no increase or decrease on the previous month.
Agreed sales were up by a marginal net balance of +3%, having been at 7% in December which is very marginal in terms of growth. And in terms of what the remainder of the year looks like, respondents indicated a +10% result on the next three months’ sales outlook; and a +30% net balance is recorded for twelve months from now – albeit this is a slight reduction in sentiment from the +37% recorded in December 2024.
Evidence for the continued positivity around the rest of the year is seen in the number of appraisals and new instructions agents report. Compared with January 2024, agents reported a higher number of appraisals undertaken indicating a strong pipeline of work coming down the track. Alongside this January was the ninth consecutive month respondents reporting an increase in the volume of new listings with a net balance of +25% . The knock-on impact is healthy stock levels, up to an average of 45 properties per branch from 41 in July 2024.
Conducted before the Bank of England’s decision to cut interest rates last week RICS say ”it will be interesting to see the impact of the recent change in February’s report.’ RICS Head of Market Analytics, Tarrant Parsons, said:
“The latest survey feedback indicates that growth in buyer demand lost a bit of momentum through the early part of the year, with this flatter picture likely linked to the turbulence seen across money markets in the first half of January. Nevertheless, moving forward, respondents continue to envisage a slightly positive near-term outlook for sales activity. This should be further supported by the unwinding of some of the pressures around mortgage interest rates over the past couple of weeks.”
