Your monthly UK housing market update. Covering sold prices, asking prices, surveyor sentiment and what’s next for the property market.
Headline figures improve, but affordability remains the real story.
HM Land Registry – Sold Prices
April’s sold price data seems to show the housing market bouncing back. But the headline deserves a closer look.
Annual UK sold price inflation jumped by 3.8%, up from 0% in March and the highest rate since before the Stamp Duty changes in spring 2025. However, much of that increase reflects a “base effect”. Prices fell sharply after last year’s Stamp Duty deadline, making this year look comparatively strong rather than reflecting a sudden surge in demand.
Even so, prices edged higher month-on-month, rising 0.7% (or 0.6% seasonally adjusted), suggesting the market is moving in the right direction.
Regional differences remain striking. The North East led England with annual growth of 9.9%, while London fell 2.1%. Wales (+2.9%), Scotland (+1.6%) and Northern Ireland (+7.4%) all continued to outperform England.
Meanwhile, 104,000 transactions took place in April and mortgage approvals rose to 65,900 (comfortably above the recent six-month average). It shows that despite affordability pressures, buyers are still getting deals over the line.
Rightmove – Asking Prices
June brought a twist to the market, with asking prices falling 0.6% (£2,113) to £376,191. It’s the largest June price drop in fourteen years, a clear sign that sellers are increasingly realistic as summer gets underway.
Normally, June delivers a small seasonal increase. This year, however, record levels of available homes, combined with a heatwave, holidays and major sporting events, encouraged sellers to compete more aggressively on price.
Rightmove’s data found that homes priced correctly from the outset sold far more quickly. Indeed, more than a third of new listings currently fail to sell, highlighting just how price-sensitive buyers have become.
Despite softer demand (-10% year-on-year), the wider market continues to hold up. Agreed sales are only 6% below last year, broadly matching 2024 and sitting 5% above 2023. Mortgage rates have also eased slightly, with the average two-year fix falling from 5.18% to 5.07%.
RICS – Chartered Surveyor Sentiment
Surveyors paint a cautious picture, although there are signs the recent slowdown may be levelling off.
New buyer enquiries remained at -34% in May, unchanged from April. But importantly, this is the first time this measure hasn’t deteriorated since January. Agreed sales also held steady at -37%, suggesting activity remains subdued but isn’t worsening.
Similarly, the short-term sales outlook remains weak at -25%, but that’s a slight improvement on the previous two months. Looking further ahead, the twelve-month outlook edged back into positive territory at +2%, hinting the worst of the slowdown may now be behind us.
House prices remain under pressure nationally, with the headline balance holding at -35%. Yet the familiar regional divide persists. Northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of the North West continue to report price growth, while London, the South East and East Anglia remain weaker.
Zoopla – Housing Market Outlook
Zoopla believes the second half of 2026 will be shaped by one factor above all others: mortgage rates.
Annual price growth currently sits at 1.4%, but Zoopla expects this to ease towards 1% over the coming months. The North of England remains the strongest regional market, while London and the South East are expected to remain broadly flat or record modest price falls.
Sales have softened in recent weeks, largely because borrowing costs remain higher than many buyers had hoped. Zoopla had expected sales to finish around 2% below 2025 levels, but higher borrowing costs now mean the decline is likely to be greater.
Even so, elevated stock levels mean buyers have plenty of choice, while well-priced homes continue to attract strong interest.
For first-time buyers, affordability remains the biggest hurdle. For sellers, the message is equally clear: realistic pricing from day one has never been more important.
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