Residential buyer demand rose to its highest level in more than two years during March, research from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors found.
The research, UK Residential Market Survey March 2024 which surveyed 603 branches, found an average net balance of 8 per cent of respondents reported an increase in new buyer enquiries during March.
This rise brought new buyer enquiries to the highest level since February 2022.
The previous month, February, saw a net balance of 4 per cent reporting an increase in demand.
Additionally, the research said the latest survey iteration represented the third consecutive month of demand growth.
Rics senior economist, Tarrant Parsons, said: “Demand continues to recover gradually across the UK housing market, with new buyer enquiries rising for a third month in succession.”
Parsons said the inflation backdrop “turning a little less difficult of late”, has led to expectations the Bank of England will be able to start lowering interest rates this year.
“This should continue to support the market to a certain degree going forward,” he added.
Hargreaves Lansdown head of personal finance, Sarah Coles, said: “More upbeat sentiment and expectations of rate cuts are persuading buyers and sellers back to the market in increasing numbers.
“They're not yet rushing to agree sales or push prices up, but agents are confident that this is on the way once the weather cheers up and mortgage rates fall.”
However, Coles pointed out the report displayed “some negatives” too.
“Agents across the country say that while buyers are back, demand is fragile, buyers are prone to changing their mind, and chains are still collapsing,” she said.
“Others say that the resurgence of supply means overpriced properties aren’t selling, and that buyers are driving a hard bargain.”
Supply
The report also found that the flow of new listings coming onto the sales market increased for the fourth month in a row, with a net balance of 13 per cent of respondents noticing a pick-up in new instructions in March
Similarly, respondents said that the number of recent appraisals had overtaken that of the previous year, reaching a net balance of 21 per cent.
Expectations
Looking ahead, respondents predicted further improvement in activity over the coming months, with a net balance of 13 per cent of respondents predicting sales volumes rising in the next three months.
This is compared to 6 per cent in the previous survey.
In the next 12 months, a net balance of 46 per cent of respondents predicted sales activity rising, up from 42 per cent in February.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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