Week 21 shows a UK property market that is still moving, but no longer racing. 22.1k homes sold STC last week. That is below the long term Week 21 average of 25.3k, so there is no point pretending buyers are charging through the market with wild abandon.
They are not.
Yet the wider picture is still positive. Year to date, homes sold STC are 1.7% ahead of the same point in 2024, with 520,764 homes sold STC so far this year.
The bigger story is supply. 31,299 new homes came to the market last week, taking total homes for sale across the UK to 746,898. That is a serious amount of choice for buyers and a serious wake up call for sellers. When buyers have choice, they compare. When they compare, average homes at optimistic prices get ignored.
That is why 13.4% of homes on the market have reduced in price in the last month, while only 14.6% have had a sale agreed.
The good news? Prices are holding up. The average UK home sold STC last week at £369k, with sales agreed averaging £347 per sq ft.
Bottom line? The market is not broken. Buyers are still buying. Sellers are still selling. But the days of sticking a hopeful price on a home and waiting for the phone to melt are long gone. In this market, the best priced homes make the overpriced ones look like free marketing.