- Kensington and Chelsea saw its average new asking price fall by more than £95,000 in a month.
- Britain’s average asking price dropped 2 per cent in August, the biggest August fall since 2018.
- More than half of offers from landlord buyers were at least 10 per cent below the initial asking price in July.
Britain’s housing market is giving buyers more room to negotiate, with even sellers in some of the country’s most expensive areas cutting their expectations sharply.
The average asking price for a newly listed home in Britain fell by 2 per cent in the four weeks to August 8, according to Rightmove, taking the average reduction to £7,360. It was the biggest August fall in eight years and left asking prices 1 per cent lower than a year earlier.
The clearest sign of the shift may be in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Rightmove put the average asking price for a newly listed home there at £1,552,970, down from £1,648,148 a month earlier. That is a reduction of more than £95,000.
London has been at the sharper end of the slowdown. Asking prices in the capital fell 3.1 per cent over the year, while the number of homes available for sale has reached its highest level in 16 years. With more properties competing for a smaller pool of buyers, sellers appear to have less scope to hold out for the prices they might previously have expected.
Rightmove said the national figures also hide a growing divide between regions. Asking prices in the north of England were 1.5 per cent higher than a year earlier, while prices in the south were down 1.8 per cent. Buyer demand has risen 5 per cent since Andy Burnham became prime minister on July 20, but remains 10 per cent below the same point last year.
Mortgage costs are adding to the pressure. The average two-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 5.09 per cent from 4.92 per cent a month earlier, making it harder for some prospective buyers to stretch their budgets.
Rightmove has also become less confident about the rest of the year. It has cut its forecast for house price growth in 2026 from 2 per cent to a range between no growth and a fall of up to 2 per cent, citing uncertainty around mortgage rates, geopolitical developments and the October Budget.
The bargain hunters are moving in
The changing balance between buyers and sellers is particularly visible in the buy-to-let market.
Data from estate agent Hamptons suggests landlords are using the weaker market to negotiate much harder. In July, landlords accounted for 14.1 per cent of all home purchases in Great Britain, above their 12.4 per cent share so far this year.
But it was the prices they were willing to pay that stood out. The average landlord buyer paid just 88.7 per cent of the property’s initial asking price in July. More than half, or 56 per cent, of offers made by investor buyers were at least 10 per cent below the initial asking price, the highest proportion since April 2020, according to Hamptons data based on Connells Group transactions.
Sellers are also appearing more willing to accept those offers. About 27 per cent of investor offers that were at least 10 per cent below asking were accepted in July, compared with 18 per cent a year earlier. For leasehold properties, the share was even higher at 41 per cent.
That is significant because flats, many of which are leasehold, have already been among the harder properties to sell. Zoopla’s research found that flats in England and Wales take an average of 42 days to sell, compared with 33 days for houses. In London, the gap is also visible, with flats taking an average of 45 days compared with 37 days for houses.
The wider housing data points in the same direction. RICS said the market remained subdued in July, with new buyer enquiries recording a net balance of -28 per cent and agreed sales at -30 per cent. Both measures were unchanged from June, suggesting there had been little meaningful recovery in activity.
There is some evidence that the decline may be losing momentum rather than accelerating. RICS said near-term sales expectations improved for a fourth consecutive survey, while its 12-month sales outlook moved into positive territory. That leaves open the possibility that the market could stabilise if borrowing costs and buyer confidence improve.
For now, however, the numbers suggest a market where sellers have to compete not only with each other but with buyers who have more choice. Rightmove’s data shows the number of homes for sale at a 12-year high, while higher mortgage rates are limiting how much many buyers can afford.
That combination could explain why the pressure is no longer confined to ordinary homes. In Kensington and Chelsea, a £95,000 reduction in the average asking price may look extraordinary, but it is part of a broader adjustment in which sellers across Britain are being forced to rethink what buyers are prepared to pay.
And with landlords increasingly willing to make offers well below asking prices, the next phase of the market could come down to how many sellers are prepared to accept less rather than wait longer.
