The steepest phase of the housing market’s recent downturn may be coming to an end, according to June’s Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors survey, though any recovery remains delicate and heavily dependent on interest rate clarity.
New buyer enquiries came in at -29%, still firmly negative but an improvement on the -34% recorded in the previous two months. It’s the least pessimistic reading since February, and the second consecutive month of improvement.
Newly agreed sales followed a similar pattern, rising to -32% from -35%.
Small shifts. But in a market that has been moving in one direction for months, the change in trajectory matters.
Near-term sales expectations improved markedly, climbing to -16% from a recent low of -34% in March. More striking was the twelve-month outlook: respondents returned a net positive balance of 1%, crossing into positive territory for the first time in recent months.
Tarrant Parsons, RICS’ head of market research and analysis, described the results as offering “some cautious encouragement that the worst of the slowdown in market activity may be beginning to pass,” but was quick to add that any improvement “remains fragile and is now being tested by renewed political uncertainty.”
Translation: don’t get ahead of yourself.
If transaction volumes show tentative signs of stabilisation, pricing doesn’t yet. The headline price balance came in at -33%, broadly unchanged from recent months. Sellers across much of England continue to find that asking prices set earlier in the year no longer reflect what buyers are prepared to pay.
Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfactscompare.co.uk, noted that supply is beginning to thin. “Both new instructions and market appraisals are moving deeper into negative territory,” she said. Fewer properties coming to market could restrict supply in the months ahead, which should support pricing.
It’s a familiar dynamic. When sellers withdraw, those who remain can hold firmer on price.
Separate data from EXP confirmed a growing divide in buyer activity across England. Properties under offer fell 1.1% to 41.2% nationally in the three months to June, but the headline figure masks sharp regional differences.
East Riding of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester posted the strongest quarterly gains. Dorset, Surrey and Bristol recorded some of the steepest quarterly declines. Adam Day, head of EXP UK and Europe, pointed to “comparatively stronger affordability” in northern markets as the key differentiator.
For Norfolk and Suffolk, this regional picture is instructive. East Anglia sits between the resilient North and the pressured South, with its own distinct affordability profile. Market towns like Wymondham and Attleborough offer stronger relative value than the southern counties most affected, though they lack the wage growth that has supported demand in parts of the Midlands and North.
Connells data released this week put the challenge in stark terms. Just 52% of properties listed for sale in January received an offer within six months, down from 58% at the same point last year.
That six-percentage-point drop means roughly one in ten sellers who would have attracted an offer in 2025 are now waiting longer, or adjusting their expectations.
Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and former RICS residential chairman, said buyers and sellers who “need rather than want to move” are pressing ahead, but negotiating hard. “Prices and activity are holding up better than we dared hope,” he added, “although we are not expecting a significant summer rebound.”
Every indicator in this survey is shaped by the same fundamental uncertainty: where rates go next. The Bank of England held at 3.75% in June, and Parsons acknowledged that “uncertainty around the outlook for inflation and borrowing costs continues to weigh on sentiment.”
The average two-year fixed mortgage rate stands at 5.52%, according to Moneyfactscompare.co.uk. On a £250,000 loan over 25 years, that’s £1,538 a month, around £760 more annually than the 5.09% average available in July 2025.
For buyers in Norwich or Ipswich, where competition for family homes remains steady, that higher monthly cost shapes what people can afford and where they’re willing to compromise. Those who can act now may find that seller expectations are adjusting to meet them. Our property market reports track these affordability shifts across 324 locations in Norfolk and Suffolk.
The RICS data doesn’t describe a market in freefall. It describes one that’s gradually finding its floor after a difficult stretch. Buyer enquiries are improving from deeply negative levels. Sales expectations have turned cautiously positive. Supply is tightening as sellers hold back.
None of this points to a sharp rebound. But for well-priced properties in desirable locations across Norfolk and Suffolk, the buyers haven’t disappeared. They’re more selective, more informed, and more willing to walk away from properties that don’t justify their asking price. Sellers who understand that shift are still completing transactions. Those who don’t are joining the 48% still waiting for an offer after six months.
