July Housing Update
- sort style and stage
- Aug 12
- 5 min read
Although we're in the middle of the Summer, there's lots of housing news to share. Read on to find out what's been happening.
Rightmove
The average asking price fell by 1.0% (-£3,832) to £372,359. Although a price drop is normal in July, this month’s fall is larger than the ten-year average drop at 0.2%.
The supply of available homes is approaching a 12-year high, giving buyers plenty of choice. The World Cup, the hot weather and given we are in the summer period means that home movers have been distracted.
The heatwave impacted demand as followed:
May - a temporary 8% drop in demand from buyers before rebounding.
June - a temporary dip in demand of 6%
July - a 4% drop
The new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, coming into power on 20 July 2026 further added to the distraction. Rightmove is urging that housing should be high on the agenda, with a focus on changing how stamp duty works and helping house builders to get closer to the target of 1.5 million new homes. In return, the government has confirmed there will be no change in stamp duty!
Source: Rightmove
Sales agreed for the first half of 2026 stayed level with those for the same period in 2024. This demonstrates that buyers are focused when they find the right property at the right price.
Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove says:
Pricing remains critical, and it’s remarkable that nearly three-quarters of homes that have sold so far this year have done so without needing an asking price reduction.
Take a look at the five year average asking price - this includes the usual seasonal adjustments, for example, the annual summer dip.
Source: Rightmove
Its now taking 62 days on average to secure a buyer. For staged homes, our average is 20 days!
Source: Rightmove
Learn more here.
Zoopla
They confirmed that housing price growth slowed by 1.3%, down 1.7% compared with 12 months ago. Sales agreed are 9% lower over the sam period due to higher mortgage costs and uncertainty causing some buyers to pause their decision to move home. More choice for buyers has caused greater room for negotiation - 30% of homes listed since Q2, 2026 remain unsold. These homes have not a price reduction.
Source: Zoopla
Mortgage rates had started to ease early on in 2026, decreasing from a peak of almost 5% in April to around 4.65% in June. Rates edged back up to around 4.75% in July as global uncertainty pushed up borrowing costs.
Zoopla expects activity to pick up in September, provided mortgage rates remain stable. However, sellers who price realistically are likely to benefit most.
Learn more here.
Financial Perspective
Base Rate
On 30 July, the Bank of Englad Monetary Policy Committe held the interest rate at 3.75%. The backdrop to this, is that six members of the Committee voted to retain the same interest rate, while three voted for a quarter-point increase to 4%. The good news, is that inflation fell by 2.6%.
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England says:
Today, we’ve held Bank Rate at 3.75%. Inflation has fallen faster than we’d expected, but the conflict in the Middle East continues to mean high and volatile energy prices. That will cause inflation to rise again later this year. However the conflict unfolds, our job is to make sure any increase in inflation is temporary and that it comes back to our 2% target.
Learn more here.
Lloyds Bank
Lloyds indicates that many would-be buyers were struggling with affordability, especially as recent events in the Middle East prompted a rise in mortgage rates.
Amanda Bryden, the head of mortgages at Lloyds, says:
While housing demand remains broadly steady, activity continues to respond quickly to changes in mortgage rates.
Looking ahead, we expect market activity and house prices to remain relatively stable over the remainder of the year. Developments will be shaped by both how mortgage rates respond to the outlook for inflation and wider household confidence.
Anthony Codling, an analyst at the broker RBC Capital Markets reviewing the Lloyds mortgage perspective says:
Prices are neither falling sharply nor rising with any conviction, trapped in a narrow two-year range by the twin vices of stretched affordability and mortgage rates that refuse to fall far enough for long enough.
The market is not in crisis, but the green shoots that flickered briefly in early 2026 have wilted.
Nationwide Bank
The Nationwide has confirmed that UK annual house price growth slowed to 1.8% in July, down from 2.2% in June. House prices however, were up 0.1% between June and July.
The average time a homeowner lives in their home is now 14 years, with 24 years being the average for owner occupiers and 5 years for those in rental.
Source: Nationwide
Nationwide's Chief Economist, Robert Gardner, says:
Market activity and house prices have remained soft in recent months, in part reflecting the uncertain economic backdrop. Geopolitical tensions remain high, with the conflict between Iran and the US again exerting upward pressure on energy prices and market interest rates in recent weeks. Financial market expectations for the future path of Bank Rate have been volatile, reflecting shifting views about the inflationary implications of events at home and abroad.
Learn more here.
Government Housing Insight
On 9 July, the government published its housing history. They state that in 2024-2025, the average age of first time buyers in England was 34 years, an increase compared to the pre-pandemic years in 2019-20 when the average age was 32 years.
Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government
Between 2024 and 2025, the buyer demographics consisted of:
40% of first time buyer households were couples with no dependent children
29% were one person households
25% were couples with dependent children
4% were multi-person households
2% were lone parents with dependent children
During 2024 to 2025, household moves by type of tenure is as follows - there were 16m owner occupiers, 4.1m social renters and 4.7m private renters moves.
Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government
Learn more here.
Fall Through Rates
Did you know that 1 in 3 home sales fall through each year in England and Wales. Yes that's right! This is equivalent to around 300k sales collapsing and the average money lost by home movers is £3,337. So what can be done about this? There's an excellent way to reduce the stress associated with buying and selling and its called a Reservation Agreement. This is a commercial arrangement between the seller and buyer so each party committs to a sale or a purchase. For a small reservation fee the sale is secured and in the unlikely event a party does not stick to their agreement - Gazeal will pay the party who lost out. The Agreement continues up to the point of legal exchange so the risk to both parties is significantly reduced.
Learn more here.
Our Perspective
Reflecting on the above, Ceri Owen, our founder says:
Despite us moving into the traditional summer period where the housing market slows down, buyers are still able to sell if they carefully consider the buyer pool and price accordingly.
Global uncertainty will continue so for those looking to sell, factoring this into your pricing decision is key - otherwise your home will sit on the market.
It's not just about staging for us at sort style and stage, understanding the market, understanding the target buyer, investing sensibly, coming up with a cohesive action plan and implementing this efficiently is key if you want to sell quickly and for the highest sale price.
If you'd like to learn more about how we can help, reach out to info@sortstyleandstage - we'd love to hear from you!
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