2025 UK Premium Property Market Update

Happy New Year!

I can still say that, can't I?

Welcome to the first edition for 2026 of my UK premium property market update, where I'll be reviewing how 2025 finished up.

The premium property market had a lot to contend with last year, with nearly a third of it overshadowed by speculation about tax reforms ahead of the autumn Budget, particularly the talk around potential stamp duty reform and mansion tax.

The number of new listings increased for the fifth consecutive year, while sales agreed reached their highest level since 2022. Not a bad result at all, considering all the challenges facing the higher end of the market in the final few months of 2025.

Unsurprisingly, the first half of the year and Q3 performed better than the second half and Q4. However, activity levels certainly did not fall off a cliff completely as many had expected as the year came to an end.

The premium market demonstrated resilience through considerable uncertainty, though it was not without its vulnerabilities. Price reductions, withdrawals, and fall throughs all rose year on year, reflecting the pressures facing sellers and buyers alike.

Increased stock levels and extra competition between sellers, plus continued economic uncertainty brought challenges to the premium market towards the end of the year. Yet despite a slow finish to 2025, there are positive signals emerging. Seller confidence to list properties remained intact and buyer appetite to transact stayed robust.

In my final update of 2025, I wrote about OnTheMarket releasing a special edition of their Property Sentiment Index to gauge the impact of the long awaited announcement of The Budget and provide an early indicator of the market outlook ahead. Further data has now been released, painting a clearer picture of sentiment.

Barclays reported that, post Budget, most UK adults say their confidence in their ability to buy a home is unimpacted (58%), though just over a quarter (27%) feel their confidence has decreased. Significantly, 50% of those who intend to move in the next year said they had paused their plans in anticipation of the Budget, but are now resuming them following the announcement.

Rightmove also reported in their December House Price Index that in London, the number of new sellers coming to market at the top end, which was hardest hit by Budget speculation, was up by 24% in the week after the Budget compared with the week before, as some who were waiting for Budget clarity acted.

The data from OnTheMarket, Rightmove, and Barclays gives a promising outlook for a post Budget bounceback and a strong start to 2026.

Rightmove recorded its busiest ever Boxing Day for visits to the website, with visits almost doubling (93%) between the quietest day of the year on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. This was a bigger bounce in visits to Rightmove than last year, when the increase was 87%. The number of people sending enquiries to estate agents to go and view homes for sale increased by 67% in the five days after Christmas compared with the five days before Christmas. Meanwhile, the number of new properties being listed for sale on Rightmove more than doubled (+143%) in the five days after Christmas compared with the five days before Christmas.

Rightmove predicted a bigger than usual Boxing Day bounce, as those who paused due to the Budget uncertainty were expected to join the post Christmas boost in home moving activity, and this appears to be the case.

Whilst the period between Boxing Day and New Year usually sees a spike in activity compared to the quietest period of the year leading up to Christmas, it's actually January where traffic to the website really starts to spike, with visits in the second week of January typically 69% higher compared to the first week of December. January also records some of the highest traffic days of the entire year on Rightmove, underlining the exceptional levels of buyer activity in the New Year.

Recent data from Zoopla shows UK housing market activity has rebounded in the first two weeks of January, with the most early January listings since 2018. Significantly, 33% of these properties were listed previously in 2025, highlighting the appetite to come back to market following the Q4 slowdown due to uncertainty over the Budget. Buyer demand at the start of 2026 is over 20% ahead of the start of 2023 and the pre pandemic years of 2017 to 2019.

This presents a compelling opportunity for agents to reconnect with properties that withdrew from the market last year, both with them or their competitors. These sellers have already demonstrated their intent to move, and with Budget uncertainty now resolved and buyer demand increasing, the conditions have fundamentally improved since they last tested the market.

The timing could not be better for agents looking to bring withdrawn properties back to market. Rightmove research from 2025 showed that February and March were the best months to list a home, with the highest number of homes listed in these months making it to completion, closely followed by January and April. In fact, nearly seven in ten homes (66.3%) listed during February and March went on to complete, compared to an average success rate of 55.53% across 2025. This trend in 2025 was in line with the same data that Rightmove had tracked across millions of properties listed for sale since 2012, excluding 2020 due to the pandemic.

February also has the joint quickest time to find a buyer on average historically, alongside January, at 51 days for a typical home to find a buyer, closely followed by March and April at 52 days, with the number of buyers enquiring about homes for sale usually highest at this time of year.

For agents, this data provides a powerful proposition when reconnecting with sellers who withdrew in 2025: not only have market conditions improved significantly with Budget uncertainty lifted and buyer demand increasing, but they're also entering the most productive selling window of the entire year.

Properties listed now benefit from peak buyer activity, faster sale times, and higher completion rates. The combination of renewed market confidence and seasonal advantage creates a very strong case for relisting.

I've written previously in these updates about the importance of targeting withdrawn properties, and this latest data from Zoopla and Rightmove gives solid evidence in support of it. If you would like further information on the best withdrawn strategies to implement in 2026, including approaches and techniques for reconnecting with these sellers, please do not hesitate to contact me.

The premium market has entered 2026 with strong foundations now that Budget uncertainty has lifted and the festive period is behind us. The combination of resolved Budget concerns, continued listing growth from sellers willing to test the market, early January data showing buyer demand over 20% ahead of recent years, and entry into the most productive selling season of the year gives great optimism for a positive start and hopefully a sign of things to come.

2026 is shaping up to be a year of renewed confidence and activity in the premium property market.

Thank you for reading my latest update and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on the next edition hitting your inbox in February, where I will be reviewing how the premium property market started the year off.

P.S. Take a look at my 2025 market overview on LinkedIn if you want even more property data, market trends and insights.

P.P.S. I’ve just joined the board of The Boys Club and it would be great for any men reading this to join the Facebook group if they haven’t done so already.