More homes came to market in September. Fewer buyers came looking.

In September 2026, chartered surveyors reported more homes coming to market and fewer buyers looking at them. New sales listings rose on a net balance of +6%, the first positive reading since mid-2025, while new buyer enquiries fell to -22%. For anyone thinking of selling, competition is rising.

What did the September 2026 RICS survey show?

The RICS UK Residential Market Survey is a monthly sentiment survey of chartered surveyors working in the residential sales and lettings markets. Its headline national readings cover England and Wales, built from ten regions and weighted regionally. The September 2026 survey was published on 6 October 2026.

Before reading any of its figures, it is worth knowing what they are. Every number below is a net balance: the share of surveyors reporting a rise, minus the share reporting a fall. A net balance of -22% does not mean enquiries fell by 22%. It means 22% more surveyors saw enquiries fall than saw them rise. It measures direction and breadth of opinion, not size of change. Nothing in this survey is a price.

Why does a positive listings reading matter so much?

A net balance of +6% of respondents reported an increase in sales listings in September. RICS describes this as the first reading in positive territory since mid-2025, which makes it the most interesting single number in the survey. For more than a year, the flow of new homes to market had been shrinking or flat. In September it turned.

RICS is careful about the size of it, and so are we: the survey notes the latest figure points to only a modest rise. One month is not a trend. But direction matters to a seller, because every other home that comes to market in your area in the next few weeks is a home a buyer can look at instead of yours.

What is happening to demand?

The opposite thing. New buyer enquiries registered a net balance of -22% in September, slipping from -18% beforehand. RICS points out that this is the first month since March 2026 in which the indicator failed to become less negative. For most of this year, demand had been getting less bad each month. In September that run stopped.

The survey also puts it in proportion, and this is the honest counterweight: -22% is still comfortably above the recent low of -41% recorded six months ago. Conditions are softer than they were in the summer, but they are not as subdued as they were earlier in the year.

Agreed sales followed demand down, posting a net balance of -18% against -16% previously, though that remains less negative than the three-month average of -25%. Looking forward, near-term sales expectations eased to -6% from -3%.

Are house prices actually falling?

At the aggregate level, surveyors think they are drifting. The headline house price net balance slipped to -32% from -28% in the previous month. That matters less for its size than for what it interrupts: RICS notes it breaks a run of four consecutive months in which the indicator had become gradually less negative.

In other words, the downward pressure on prices had been easing all year, and in September it stopped easing. The survey's own summary is that the pressure has eased compared with earlier in the year but is not yet dissipating entirely.

Looking ahead, surveyors expect further downward pressure over the coming three months, with that net balance at -24%. Over a twelve-month horizon the net balance is zero, which points to a broadly flat trend. RICS flags that this is a downgrade from a couple of months ago, when respondents were still anticipating modest price growth.

Regionally, most parts of England saw price net balances move slightly deeper into negative territory in September, with sentiment in London weaker than the national headline. Northern Ireland and Scotland are the exceptions, both still reporting price growth. Scotland and Northern Ireland are collected but do not feed the headline England and Wales readings.

What does this mean if you are thinking of selling?

Put the two halves together. More sellers are deciding to come to market at exactly the point when fewer buyers are looking, agreed sales are slowing and surveyors expect prices to drift for another three months. A home listed in the next few weeks is competing against a larger pool of homes for a smaller pool of buyers than one listed six months ago.

None of that says do not sell. It says find out what your own home would genuinely attract before you commit to a public listing, because a listing you have to reduce is the expensive way to learn the answer. You can cut the price. Buyers can see that you did.

This is the problem open for offer exists to solve. open for offer is the pre-market, the market that exists before a property is ever advertised. Buyers can register interest in your home on its page, and the queue on your home's page shows how much interest there is, which tells you what real demand for your home looks like rather than what a survey says about England and Wales as a whole.

A national net balance cannot tell you about your street. Two homes a mile apart can sit in completely different markets depending on type, condition and what else is available nearby. Start with a market estimate for your own home, then test the market before you list.

Where these figures come from

All figures are net balances from the RICS UK Residential Market Survey, September 2026, published 6 October 2026. The survey is a sentiment survey of chartered surveyors, not a record of transactions or of prices paid. Headline readings cover England and Wales and are regionally weighted across ten regions.