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UK housing market cools as Iran war weighs heavily
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Thursday 09 Apr 2026
(Sharecast News) - The UK housing market faltered in March, industry research showed on Thursday, as the Iran war weighed heavily on sentiment.
According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' latest residential market survey, both buyer enquiries and agreed sales fell sharply last month, while house prices tracked lower.
The new buyer enquiries balance lost 10 points at -39, the weakest since August 2023, with agreed sales tumbling to -34 from -13 in February. The house price balance came in at -23, compared to -14 a month previously.
Respondents flagged rising borrowing costs and a spike in geopolitical uncertainty, with conditions forecast to remain difficult. The short-term sales expectations balance plunged to -33 from -4 a month ago.
A net balance is the proportion of respondents reporting a rise minus those reporting a fall.
The Bank of England had been widely expected to cut interest rates at its March meeting but following the outbreak of war - which has seen global energy prices soar - it opted to leave the cost of borrowing unchanged. Markets now expect Bank Rate to rise this year.
Tarrant Parsons, head of market research and analysis at Rics, said: "The mood across the UK housing market has shifted markedly over the past couple of months. What had been a cautiously improving picture for activity has been knocked off course by the wider macro fallout from the Middle East conflict, as the renewed deterioration in the mortgage rate outlook has proved particularly challenging."
The March survey was sent to 445 branches and is based on 218 responses.
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