diff --git a/syncapi/streams/stream_pdu.go b/syncapi/streams/stream_pdu.go
index 1afcbe750..bd9ec042f 100644
--- a/syncapi/streams/stream_pdu.go
+++ b/syncapi/streams/stream_pdu.go
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ func (p *PDUStreamProvider) IncrementalSync(
 		To:        to,
 		Backwards: from > to,
 	}
-	newPos = to
+	newPos = from
 
 	var err error
 	var stateDeltas []types.StateDelta
@@ -173,13 +173,17 @@ func (p *PDUStreamProvider) IncrementalSync(
 	}
 
 	for _, delta := range stateDeltas {
-		if err = p.addRoomDeltaToResponse(ctx, req.Device, r, delta, &eventFilter, req.Response); err != nil {
+		var pos types.StreamPosition
+		if pos, err = p.addRoomDeltaToResponse(ctx, req.Device, r, delta, &eventFilter, req.Response); err != nil {
 			req.Log.WithError(err).Error("d.addRoomDeltaToResponse failed")
-			return newPos
+			return to
+		}
+		if pos > newPos {
+			newPos = pos
 		}
 	}
 
-	return r.To
+	return newPos
 }
 
 func (p *PDUStreamProvider) addRoomDeltaToResponse(
@@ -189,7 +193,7 @@ func (p *PDUStreamProvider) addRoomDeltaToResponse(
 	delta types.StateDelta,
 	eventFilter *gomatrixserverlib.RoomEventFilter,
 	res *types.Response,
-) error {
+) (types.StreamPosition, error) {
 	if delta.MembershipPos > 0 && delta.Membership == gomatrixserverlib.Leave {
 		// make sure we don't leak recent events after the leave event.
 		// TODO: History visibility makes this somewhat complex to handle correctly. For example:
@@ -204,19 +208,42 @@ func (p *PDUStreamProvider) addRoomDeltaToResponse(
 		eventFilter, true, true,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return r.From, err
 	}
 	recentEvents := p.DB.StreamEventsToEvents(device, recentStreamEvents)
 	delta.StateEvents = removeDuplicates(delta.StateEvents, recentEvents) // roll back
 	prevBatch, err := p.DB.GetBackwardTopologyPos(ctx, recentStreamEvents)
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return r.From, err
 	}
 
-	// XXX: should we ever get this far if we have no recent events or state in this room?
-	// in practice we do for peeks, but possibly not joins?
+	// If we didn't return any events at all then don't bother advancing the stream position.
 	if len(recentEvents) == 0 && len(delta.StateEvents) == 0 {
-		return nil
+		return r.From, nil
+	}
+
+	// Sort the events so that we can pick out the latest events from both sections.
+	recentEvents = gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedReverseTopologicalOrdering(recentEvents, gomatrixserverlib.TopologicalOrderByPrevEvents)
+	delta.StateEvents = gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedReverseTopologicalOrdering(delta.StateEvents, gomatrixserverlib.TopologicalOrderByAuthEvents)
+
+	// Work out what the highest stream position is for all of the events in this
+	// room that were returned.
+	latestPosition := r.From
+	updateLatestPosition := func(mostRecentEventID string) {
+		if _, pos, err := p.DB.PositionInTopology(ctx, mostRecentEventID); err == nil {
+			switch {
+			case r.Backwards && pos < latestPosition:
+				fallthrough
+			case !r.Backwards && pos > latestPosition:
+				latestPosition = pos
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if len(recentEvents) > 0 {
+		updateLatestPosition(recentEvents[len(recentEvents)-1].EventID())
+	}
+	if len(delta.StateEvents) > 0 {
+		updateLatestPosition(delta.StateEvents[len(delta.StateEvents)-1].EventID())
 	}
 
 	switch delta.Membership {
@@ -250,7 +277,7 @@ func (p *PDUStreamProvider) addRoomDeltaToResponse(
 		res.Rooms.Leave[delta.RoomID] = *lr
 	}
 
-	return nil
+	return latestPosition, nil
 }
 
 func (p *PDUStreamProvider) getJoinResponseForCompleteSync(