Navigating Economic Uncertainty: What It Means for Surveyors

For property professionals, 2025 isn’t a year of dramatic collapse or roaring recovery. Instead, it’s transformed into something trickier: a year where the signals no longer line up. Confidence falters even as interest rates ease. Headline inflation dips but costs on site stay stubborn. Buyers tentatively return to the market but remain cautious, while landlords quietly pull stock from lettings.

It’s a landscape where professionals are constantly asked to explain contradictions. Clients don’t want another flood of data, they want clarity. Is now the right time to buy? Should I delay refurbishment? Will rents keep rising, or flatten out?

You may be thinking that these aren’t simple technical questions, and you’d be correct. They’re more nuanced questions about risk, timing, and confidence, which puts surveyors in a new position. You aren’t just seen as assessors of property, but as interpreters of an economy that refuses to play by the rules.

If you read the newspapers, you’ll be told inflation is “under control.” At 3.8% in July 2025, it’s a far cry from the double-digit highs of 2022. However, if you speak to anyone who understands how pricing works, the story becomes more complicated. That’s because the costs that matter most in construction – labour, materials, compliance – aren’t falling in the same way as the headline number.

Construction costs remain stubborn because inflation has shifted shape. Energy and food pressures may have cooled, but the costs that matter to the built environment haven’t. BCIS forecasts tender prices rising another 15% by 2030, alongside a 14% rise in building costs.

The nuance surveyors bring is pointing out that waiting rarely saves money anymore. A housing association delaying retrofit plans to “ride out inflation” may actually face higher bills down the line. A private buyer hoping refurbishment will get cheaper next year is likely to be disappointed. These conversations are uncomfortable, but they’re precisely what clients need to hear.

And that’s the key: surveyors don’t just repeat CPI numbers. They explain what those numbers miss, which is the stubborn, structural pressures that shape real costs on the ground.

The sales market offers its own contradictions, adding to the complexities. RICS reported the first positive reading for buyer demand since late 2023 with a +3% net balance in June. Encouraging, yes. However, it should be considered that the same survey recorded a –7% balance for house prices, suggesting ongoing caution.

So yes, demand is back, but half-hearted. Buyers are window-shopping, lenders are cautious, and sellers are clinging to optimistic valuations. The result is a market that moves, but without confident momentum.

For surveyors, this creates a new type of pressure. Valuations are scrutinised more fiercely; clients question whether today’s value reflects tomorrow’s risks. Defects that once slipped under the radar are now deal-breakers. In short: clients have less tolerance for uncertainty than ever before, even as uncertainty grows.

The opportunity lies in context. A valuation number alone isn’t enough, it’s the narrative that explains it. Why is this property holding value when the headlines say the market is flat? Why is this region still showing resilience when others are slipping? Those who can provide answers, not just figures, will stand out in 2025 and beyond.

If the sales market feels hesitant, the lettings market feels tense. Rents are still rising – 6.7% annually to June – but the more striking figure comes from RICS, which flagged the sharpest drop in new rental listings since the pandemic.

That supply crunch has consequences. For tenants, it means fierce competition and higher turnover stress. For landlords, it means more pricing power but also more regulatory pressure, as governments eye tighter rules on standards and safety. And for surveyors, it creates a steady flow of compliance-related instructions: condition surveys, retrofit advice, energy assessments.

Here’s the bigger insight: lettings in 2025 are less about the headline rent and more about the fragility of supply. Scarcity becomes the story, and that changes the questions clients ask. Instead of “how much can I charge?” they may soon ask “how long can this stock remain viable under regulatory and market strain?”

For surveyors, anticipating that shift is essential.

It’s tempting to think construction costs are stabilising. Material prices even dipped into negative territory by 0.9% in January, according to BCIS. This brief reprieve hides the bigger picture. Labour remains expensive, skills are scarce, and compliance demands are multiplying.

Forecasts suggest construction output, which fell 1.1% in 2024, will rebound by 3.5% in 2025 and accelerate to nearly 5% in housing by 2026. That means today’s “calm” is unlikely to last. As demand returns, supply-side bottlenecks will push costs back up.

For surveyors, this creates a risk of misplaced optimism. A client who sees material prices falling may expect refurbishment to be cheaper. But the reality is that labour availability or compliance costs on fire safety and sustainability will likely eat up any savings.

The professional role here isn’t to simply state that costs are high, but rather to explain why the structure of costs has shifted, and what that means for the next five years of asset management and project planning.

It’s easy to talk about volatility as if it’s universal, but resilience exists, and surveyors are well-placed to spot it.

• Regional variation: national averages hide differences. Markets in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and parts of the North West remain more robust than the South East. 
• Energy-efficient stock: properties with higher EPC ratings are attracting premiums as net-zero regulation tightens. 
• Insurance and compliance work: from fire safety inspections to flood risk assessments, these areas are less tied to consumer confidence and provide steadier demand.

Highlighting these areas reframes uncertainty not as paralysis, but as selective opportunity.

So what should surveyors do differently in practice? Some key shifts stand out:

• Challenge assumptions early: when a client insists costs will fall, explain why structural inflation makes that unlikely. 
• Narrate valuations: give the story, not just the number. Context builds trust. 
• Keep ahead of regulation: from building safety to EPC requirements, the surveyor who explains change clearly will always be valued. 
• Prioritise clarity over volume: long technical detail has its place, but actionable insight is what clients remember. 
• Use digital tools strategically: not as gimmicks, but as ways to win back time for high-value interpretation.
  

2025 is not defined by collapse or boom, but perhaps by contradiction. Inflation cools on paper but not on site. Housing demand rises, but prices remain flat. Rents climb, but supply collapses. Construction costs dip briefly, only to surge again.

In this landscape, the rarest commodity is clarity. Surveyors who can bridge the gap between headline numbers and lived reality, who can tell clients not just what is happening but what it means will be indispensable.

That’s the competitive edge in 2025. Not being faster, or cheaper, but being clearer.

In uncertain times, confidence in your own process becomes the anchor. That’s where digital data capture and structured reporting matter – not to replace professional judgement, but to protect it.

GoReport was built with this in mind. If you’d like to see how digital reporting can help free your time for the insight clients really value, book a demo.

Will house prices rise in 2025?
Buyer enquiries are slowly recovering (+3% net balance in June, RICS), but price sentiment is still negative (–7%). Expect modest growth in some regions, flat in others.

Are construction costs coming down?
Unlikely. Material prices dipped briefly, but BCIS forecasts tender prices rising 15% by 2030. Labour shortages and compliance costs remain sticky.

What’s driving rental market pressures?
Rents are rising 6.7% annually, but the bigger issue is supply. RICS reports the sharpest fall in new listings since Covid, signalling tighter competition.

How should surveyors respond to uncertainty?
By reframing their role as interpreters: challenging assumptions, providing context, and making advice actionable.