Have You Ever Contributed to the RICS Market Survey?
Mar 23, 2026
If you have never heard of the RICS UK Residential Market Survey, you are not alone. And if you have come across it but assumed it was not really for you, that is an even more common response — particularly among surveyors who do not work in sales or lettings.
It is worth a second look.
What it is
The RICS UK Residential Market Survey is a monthly sentiment survey of Chartered Surveyors with experience of the residential market. It captures direction-of-travel data, whether prices, buyer enquiries, agreed sales and new instructions are moving up, down, or holding steady, broken down both nationally and by region. The results are published monthly, widely read across the industry, and regularly picked up by the national press.
What gives the data its texture, and what tends to attract the most attention when it is reported, is not the headline figures. It is the commentary, short, grounded observations from practitioners describing what they are actually seeing on the ground.
This is not just for estate agents
The assumption that stops most surveyors engaging with the survey is a reasonable one: if you are not listing property or managing lettings, it feels like someone else's territory.
But think about what you are actually seeing in your work.
If you carry out Level 2 or Level 3 surveys, valuations, Red Book work, or pre-purchase inspections, you are inside the market at the moment it matters most - when a buyer has committed, instructed a survey, and then received information that changes the picture. You are seeing whether buyers are proceeding, renegotiating, or walking away. You are watching condition issues influence agreed prices in real time. You are observing how EPC concerns are shaping decisions, how affordability is stretching, how certain property types keep throwing up the same defects, and how long transactions are taking to move through the system.
That is market intelligence. Not a distant view of the market - an intimate one.
A short observation along the lines of "renegotiation following Level 3 surveys remains common where significant defects are identified" or "valuation instructions are steady but transaction times continue to extend" is exactly the kind of ground-level insight that shapes how the residential market is understood and reported nationally.
What is in it for you
Contributing to the survey puts your observations into a report that is read by economists, journalists, other professionals, and policymakers. Regional commentary from the survey is regularly quoted in national publications. That is your professional voice, your experience of what is happening in your area, reaching an audience it would not otherwise reach.
Beyond that, the published report gives you something genuinely useful. A brief LinkedIn post noting that you contributed and sharing one local observation positions you as someone actively engaged with the market, not just working within it. It gives you a credible, relevant reason to post, to update your Google Business Profile, or to drop a short note to contacts — without any of it feeling like marketing, because it is not. It is professional insight, and it is yours.
The survey is monthly. Your involvement can be as light or as consistent as suits you.
You do not have to answer every question. You answer what you genuinely know and skip what you do not. Most questions simply ask for a direction - up, down, or the same. One honest comment about your local market is a meaningful contribution.
If you would like a nudge to get started, the survey link is shared in my newsletter each time a new edition opens. Complete it once, and RICS will add you to their list directly, so you will receive it every month from there.
If you found this useful, you’re welcome to share it with others who might appreciate it.
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