Source: Sharecast
According to the latest residential market survey from Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, buyer demand moved out of negative territory for the first time since December last month.
The net balance for new buyer enquiries was 3, up significantly on May’s -22.
Agreed sales also improved notably, to -3 from -25 a month earlier.
House prices remained in negative territory at -7. However, that was unchanged on the previous month and better than the -9 forecast.
The UK housing market had a volatile start to 2025, as people rushed to complete deals ahead of changes to stamp duty thresholds, which came into effect in April. That was followed by a slump in activity immediately afterwards.
However, Tarrant Parsons, head of market research and analysis at Rics, said: "The UK residential market appears to be entering a more settled phase, with demand showing signs of stabilising following a period of volatility.
"The earlier distortion caused by transactions being brought forward ahead of the stamp duty changes now appears to have largely dissipated, allowing underlying trends to re-emerge."
Looking ahead, and respondents remained cautious in the short term, with the forward-looking three-month house price balance largely unchanged at -10. But longer term, and a positive net balance of 24 expect house prices to rise over the next 12 months.
Parsons called it an "encouraging" development that suggested a "modest" shift in sentiment, though he warned: "Confidence in the market remains somewhat delicate, with economic uncertainty at both the domestic and global level still seen as a potential headwind."
A net balance is the proportion of respondents reporting a rise in prices minus those reporting a fall. June’s survey was based on 202 responses from 430 branches.
