UK housing market remains under pressure in September - Rics
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Thursday 08 Oct 2026
(Sharecast News) - The UK housing market remained under pressure in September amid the prospect of higher interest rates, according to the latest residential market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
The headline house price net balance slipped to -32% from -28% in August, breaking a run of four consecutive months in which the indicator had become gradually less negative.
The balance for new buyer enquiries was -22% last month, down slightly on August's -18%. Still, it remained comfortably above the recent low of -41% recorded six months ago, highlighting that although demand has softened slightly, current conditions are still less subdued than earlier in the year.
The balance for near-term house price expectations at the national level stood at -24%.
The net balance for agreed sales edged down to -18% in September from -16% in August, but remained less negative than the three-month average of -25%.
Looking ahead, near-term sales expectations softened slightly, with the net balance easing to -6% from -3% previously. "Although this points to a somewhat more cautious outlook over the next three months, the overall picture has not shifted significantly as yet," Rics said.
RICS head of market research Tarrant Parsons said: "A renewed rise in interest rate expectations has created a fresh headwind for the housing market, with buyers becoming a little more cautious and sales activity losing some momentum."
A net balance is the proportion of respondents reporting a rise in prices minus those reporting a fall. The survey sample covered 422 branches coming from 193 responses.
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