The UK residential property market is beginning to show early signs of improvement, according to the latest monthly survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), although activity levels remain relatively muted.

RICS' January 2026 UK Residential Market Survey reported gradual month on month improvements across several key indicators. New buyer enquiries continued to recover, improving to a net balance of -15%, up from -21% in December and -29% in November. Agreed sales also strengthened, recording their least negative reading since June 2025 at -9%.

Commenting on the results, Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, said the market may be emerging from a difficult period but warned that progress is likely to be slow.

|"There are early signs that market conditions may be improving after a challenging period," he said. "However, activity remains subdued, meaning any recovery is likely to be gradual."

The RICS survey measures sentiment among chartered surveyors across the UK, covering areas such as workloads, buyer demand, sales activity, and future expectations. Survey results are expressed as net balances, which reflect the percentage of respondents reporting an increase minus those reporting a decrease.

Short term sales expectations eased compared with last month, with respondents reporting a net balance of +4%, down from +22% previously. Despite this, confidence over the next year strengthened considerably, with +35% of surveyors expecting sales activity to rise , the most optimistic reading since December 2024.

House price trends also showed improvement. The national net balance for prices over the past three months rose to -10%, compared with a low of -19% in October 2025.

Regionally, the strongest growth was reported in Scotland and Northern Ireland, with positive momentum also seen in the North West England and the North of England. In contrast, growth remained weaker in London, the South East England, South West England, and East Anglia.

Looking ahead, near-term house price expectations for the next three months remained broadly unchanged at -4%. However, optimism over the longer term continues to build, with 43% of respondents expecting prices to rise over the next 12 months, the strongest outlook since February 2025 and the fifth consecutive monthly improvement.

Rubinsohn noted that while longer-term confidence is improving, short-term uncertainty remains.

|"The strengthening twelve-month outlook is encouraging, but near-term expectations are still relatively soft," he said. "Future momentum will depend heavily on the direction of mortgage rates and wider economic confidence."