The July 2024 RICS Residential Survey results signal a largely stable trend in market activity, with some of the negativity found previously diminishing slightly. Moreover, likely supported by the modest easing in mortgage interest rates in recent weeks, respondents do now anticipate a meaningful pickup in sales volumes moving forward.

At the national level, the new buyer enquiries indicator posted a net balance of +2% in July, up from -6% last time. Importantly, this is the first reading in four months that has been outside of negative territory. Even so, the latest figure is still only signalling a broadly stable trend in demand at present, rather than a genuine upturn.

Looking at agreed sales, the July net balance of -2% marks a slight improvement compared to the more downbeat readings of -13% and -6% posted in May and June respectively. Furthermore, respondents appear to be gaining confidence with respect to the prospects for sales activity moving forward. Indeed, a net balance of +30% of survey participants now foresee sales rising over the coming three months. This is up from a net balance of +22% beforehand and marks the strongest reading for the near-term sales expectations series since January 2020. At the 12-month time horizon, a net balance of +45% of respondents anticipate an increase in sales activity, up slightly from 40% in the June survey.

On the supply front, the new instructions indicator returned a net balance of +2% this month, signalling a broadly flat trend. Similarly, the headline measure of market appraisals is also consistent with a generally stable picture, posting a net balance reading of +1% (unchanged from the previous survey).