The latest RICS UK Residential Market Survey paints a picture of a housing market treading water rather than recovering. New buyer enquiries, agreed sales and new instructions have all posted negative or flat readings for consecutive months, with surveyors reporting that the tentative optimism seen earlier in the year has failed to translate into transactional momentum. For an industry that had hoped 2025 would mark a decisive turning point after two years of Bank Rate-induced hibernation, this is a sobering signal: affordability constraints, sticky mortgage pricing and stretched household budgets are proving more stubborn than many forecasters anticipated.