RICS April survey: house price balance falls to -34%, weakest reading since November 2023

RICS's April survey, out this morning, showed the headline house price balance fall to -34% from -25% in March — the sharpest reading since November 2023. Weakness was focused on London, the South East, East Anglia and the South West, with surveyors citing swap-rate volatility and sticky mortgage pricing post the Iran energy shock. For buyers, there's more room to negotiate; for sellers, realistic asking strategy beats testing the top of comparables. Twelve-month price expectations stayed marginally positive — softening, not collapsing.