UK housing market under pressure amid mounting uncertainty - Rics
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Thursday 08 May 2025
(Sharecast News) - The UK housing market came under pressure in April, an industry survey showed on Thursday, hit by changes to the stamp duty regime and mounting economic uncertainty.
According the latest residential market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, both agreed sales and buyer enquiries remained in negative territory last month.
The new buyer enquiries indicator posted a net balance of -33, while agreed sales slid to -31 from -17, the weakest figure since August 2023. On the supply side, new instructions to sell were flat, with a net balance of 6.
The house price balance, meanwhile, eased to -3 from 2.
Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at Rics, said: "Although geopolitical developments haven't helped the mood music in the residential market over the past month, the main reason for the dip in key Rics sales activity metrics lies in the expiry of the stamp duty holiday at the end of March.
"Near-term indicators suggest the subdued trend will persist for the next few months at least, but looking beyond this, the results are more encouraging, reflecting in part the prospect of deeper interest rate cuts than previously anticipated."
A net balance of 39 expect house prices to return to growth over the coming year.
The April survey covered 401 branches coming from 200 responses.
A net balance is the proportion of respondents reporting a rise minus those reporting a fall.
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