April 2025 UK Premium Property Market Update

The beginning of this month saw records broken for the hottest ever start to May in the UK, but it was short lived with temperatures dropping and the jumpers coming back out.

Can the same be said for the premium property market?

I appreciate how incredibly British this sounds talking about the weather and the property market, but we are obsessed with both, right?!

Properties for sale were up 7.83% on the previous month and 17.32% year-on-year, highlighting that there is excess stock on the market, which has its positives and negatives.

The positive is there is lots more choice for buyers and can increase activity, but the negative is this means properties can take longer to sell and more competition between sellers could lead to house prices stagnating or dropping.

According to home.co.uk stock levels are at their highest figure since October 2013, but the good news is supply and demand is still pretty balanced despite the increase in the number of properties available. 

The number of new listings entering the market in April were 7.34% higher than March and 16.04% higher than a year ago, meaning sellers have not been dissuaded by the current economic and political landscape from listing their home for sale, thus showing the continued confidence there is in the market from them.

This is also backed up by the fact there was a 45.40% increase in sellers returning to the market in April compared to last year, highlighting that these homeowners are feeling now is a good time to try the market again. 

Sales agreed were down 1.26% on the previous month, but 5.32% up on a year ago.

This shows that the market is very stable and whilst buyer activity is up on last year, supply is exceeding demand and means that sellers must be mindful of making sure their property is attractive to potential buyers from a marketing perspective, presentation point of view and pricing competitively, otherwise buyers will sit on the fence until they find the perfect home.

The growing level of supply would explain why the time to find a buyer in 2025 is taking 9.33% longer than a year ago and almost double the time it did in 2022, with the average time on market of unsold properties currently sitting at 172 days.

An increase in new listings, sellers returning to the market, and supply outstretching demand has meant properties are taking longer to sell and in turn has meant the number of price changes, withdrawals, and fall-throughs in April were all up on the previous month and year-on-year.

9.42% up on March and 33.43% up on a year ago.

3.47% higher than March and 11.10% higher than last April.

7.12% increase on March and a 27.53% increase year-on-year.

The above metrics have shown April as a game of two halves, with some figures pointing towards positivity in the market and others suggesting some negativity. 

Going back to my terrible weather chat at the start of this article, the market feels like one of those days out at this time of year where the sun is shining right now, but once evening comes and the temperature drops, you need to have sensible attire with you or you’ll end up getting cold and regretting your outfit choice.

If you’re still with me and my terrible analogy, what I mean by this is there is confidence in the market with new listings and sales agreed, but only the realistic are actually moving with those thinking market conditions are hotter than they are ending up having to put on their metaphorical jumper and reduce the asking price, take longer to sell, end up having a sale falling through or withdrawing from the market completely. 

Those who don’t adjust to the conditions are just sat on the market for a long time, hence the average unsold property being on the market for 172 days. 

It’s very obvious, but competitively priced properties, marketed in the correct way, and well presented will go on to sell, whilst those who who don’t do this end up being much more likely to reduce the asking price, which then means an increased chance of taking longer to sell and both of these mean a higher probability of a sale falling through and then the seller withdrawing from the market altogether. 

I would like to think my market updates usually have a balanced view with some realistic optimism and I appreciate reading this may feel more pessimistic than my usual reports.

Therefore, I’m going to spot the opportunity for estate agents in the current market and how they can take advantage of it.

More of me pointing out the bleeding obvious, but according to Rightmove, price reduced properties are almost twice as likely to switch estate agents.

Couple this with properties taking too long to sell and sales falling through as big reasons why sellers switch estate agents and you’ve got yourself a prospecting opportunity.

If there is an increase in the above happening, properties withdrawing from the market and more sellers trying their luck again, this actually presents a great opportunity to target this second hand stock.

My recommendation to target these properties is to think about what everyone else is doing right now to win this business and do the opposite.

Most agents will be using automated systems to send out very generic letters saying they are amazing and can sell the house, but the owners at the higher end of the market expect better than this.

Here are five quick hacks to get you noticed by these sellers:

The fifth hack to get noticed by these homeowners is to offer your assistance in helping them find their next home, whether they have been on the market for one day or have a sold sign outside. 

A recent survey commissioned by GetAgent found that 49% of homebuyers moved outside of their local authority, of which 16% purchased in the same county, 11% moved within the same region, but outside of their county, and 21% relocated to a new region.

Interestingly, 64% of these buyers also had a property to sell, but with many moving to new areas, only a small proportion had the chance to use the same agent for both their sale and purchase.

The survey found that 76% of buyers’ agents didn’t have a presence in the area where they were selling their current property. 

Therefore, I can’t recommend enough offering a search and secure service or an onward negotiation service to help you stand out in a saturated market with The Voice of The Agent reporting the average estate agent has a dozen competitors and two agents in a market typically having a 37% share of the market. 

Offering the above services to homeowners on the market will massively help you to stand out in a very crowded market.

Whilst the above data has painted a somewhat grey cloud over the UK premium market, the London market for £5m-plus homes was surprisingly resilient in Q1, according to Savills.

Their whole market analysis on second-hand and new build sales revealed there were 93 sales in Q1 2025, which is on par with the previous year of 92. 

While £10m-plus sales remained lower than the previous quarter, transactions were 18% higher than the same time last year and there were actually more transactions at this price point than in any first quarter of the year between 2016 and 2020, according to Savills.

In value terms, £5m-plus sales totalled £0.96bn in Q1, which is slightly higher (3%) than the same period in 2024 and 4% more than the pre-COVID Q1 average. 

Values remained the strongest between the £10m-15m price band, with overall values (£0.19bn), 64% above Q1 2024 and 33% above Q1 2023.

The latest client survey from Savills, which was released in the middle of April also suggested that sentiment had ticked up in March as the market absorbed the political and fiscal changes of the past year. 

Buyer intention to move in the next 3–6 months and the net balance of those reporting increased budgets were both at levels comparable to March 2024, before the general election and the percentage of buyers claiming their budgets had increased was the highest reported since August 2022.

Last month I provided a top tip to get the most out of the premium market in Q2, which was all about offering a VIP buyer service and I have repeated that again in this article as I can’t stress enough how powerful this strategy is.

As I write this article, a client of mine who has recently launched their business sent out some VIP buyer letters and had several responses from properties worth in excess of £10,000,000.

Research from Savills has found: 

Going back to a point I made earlier about doing the opposite to everyone else, most agents will be offering free valuations, but perhaps think about offering to help these homeowners downsize instead.

If you help them find their next property to buy, you significantly increase your chances of being trusted to sell their existing property as well. 

Whilst there are lots of challenges in the market right now, this presents great opportunities for those agents who are problem solvers as opposed to those who just find problems.

The data highlights there is clearly a desire to move home with the current level of properties being listed and buyer demand, but supply is starting to outstrip demand, which is then having a knock on effect in the time to sell, and the number of price reductions, fall-throughs, and properties withdrawing from the market. 

We continue to be in a very price sensitive market in which those who sit on top of the market are just making the more realistic and motivated sellers look much better value for money, so pricing correctly from the outset is paramount to achieving a successful sale.

Thank you as always for reading these monthly updates and stay tuned for the next edition dropping in June, where I will be reporting on market activity levels in May and reviewing if the base rate change has impacted activity levels. 

P.S. You can listen to my latest conversation with fellow blog contributor Simon Leadbetter on Apple or Spotify to find out more about the results of part two of The Voice of The Agent 2025 report. 

P.P.S. You can check out my latest appearance on the UK Property Market Stats Show with Chris Watkin to find out the latest goings on across the whole market. 

*Premium market statistics are based on £750,000 and above.