The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) UK Residential Market Survey for October 2024 found that the residential sales market continues to strengthen.

House prices overall also continued to rise (+16% net balance). All regions report price growth apart from Yorkshire and the Humber, and the South West, with figures indicating decreasing prices (-23% and -4%, respectively). The perception of rising prices across most of the UK is supported by new buyer enquiries registering a +12% result in October. This extends a run of growing demand to four successive months.

Looking to the future, a rising share of respondents believe that house prices will continue to rise over the next three months, with this indicator moving to +20%, which is up from +12% in September.

Unfortunately, the chasm between the supply of properties available for let and rising public demand continues to expand. A net balance of +19% reported increasing tenant demand over the three months to October. At the same time, landlord instructions, which is the metric measuring landlords making their property available for rent, fell over the same timeframe. This is evidenced by a net balance reading of -29%, which is its weakest reading since the end of 2021.

Unsurprisingly, a net balance of +33% of respondents expects rental prices to be driven higher over the coming three months, due to this mismatch between supply and demand.