The latest data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) suggests that confidence in the UK property market is starting to return after a period of subdued activity. According to RICS’s UK Residential Market Survey for December 2025, expectations for future sales have climbed to their highest level in 14 months, pointing to an improving mood among industry professionals.
A key forward-looking measure in the survey showed that surveyors’ expectations for sales volumes over the next three months rose to a net balance of +22%, the strongest reading since October 2024. Looking further ahead over the next year, optimism strengthened even further, with a net +34% expecting sales to rise, more than double the level seen just a month earlier. Surveyors cited easing interest rate expectations and the removal of Budget-related uncertainty as key factors behind this shift in sentiment.
Property portal Rightmove has also reported a sharp rise in asking prices, with nearly £10,000 added to the average price of a UK home in just five weeks.
According to Rightmove, much of this uplift reflects the return of confidence to the housing market reflecting the RICS data. Again much of this is due to the post budget confidence in the market. Now that the uncertainty has eased momentum is really starting to build.
Further support came from the Bank of England’s interest rate cut shortly before Christmas, which provided an additional boost to buyer sentiment and market activity.
Rightmove’s latest figures show that the average asking price for homes newly listed in January rose by 2.8% month on month, an increase of £9,893, taking the national average to £368,031.
Notably, this represents the largest January price rise in 25 years, and the strongest monthly increase recorded since June 2015.
Rightmove and RICS’s research highlights what many in the property sector have been hoping to see: a shift from caution to optimism. While the market is not yet in full recovery mode, the increase in sales expectations and house prices marks a significant shift.
