Q3 2025 UK Premium Property Market Update

Despite widespread concerns that tax reform and budget speculation would freeze the premium property market, Q3 data tells a surprisingly resilient story. While activity continues above £750,000, mounting price reductions and extended selling times reveal an increasingly fragile market where timing and strategy matter more than ever.

Will the Autumn Budget bring the premium property market to a standstill?

The short answer: it hasn't yet, but cracks are appearing.

Here's what actually happened in Q3 2025. Despite the perfect storm of summer holidays, relentless tax reform speculation, and budget uncertainty, the premium market refused to freeze completely.

Both new listings and sales agreed finished marginally up year-on-year and above the Q3 2020-2025 average. Year-to-date figures mirror this pattern, proving there's genuine appetite from both buyers and sellers even in turbulent conditions.

September delivered particularly interesting data. New listings rose month-on-month, year-on-year, and exceeded the five-year average. Sales agreed slipped just slightly versus 2024, but still marginally outperformed August and the historical average.

The takeaway? The premium market is moving, just more cautiously.

Q3 wasn't without challenges. Price reductions, withdrawals, and fall-throughs all climbed significantly, exposing just how fragile buyer confidence has become. September's metrics paint the clearest picture, with all three indicators rising month-on-month, year-on-year, and above historical norms.

This pattern continued through the year-to-date figures. The premium market is active, yes, but it's operating on a knife edge.

Zoopla's latest House Price Index revealed that the property market has split in two.

While mainstream housing continues largely unaffected, properties above £500,000 are experiencing a distinct slowdown. Both buyer demand and new listings have dropped compared to last year as purchasers adopt a wait-and-see approach before committing to seven-figure decisions.

Currently, one in three homes for sale exceeds £500,000, with 8% priced above £1 million. In recent weeks, demand for million-pound homes has dropped 11% year-on-year, while interest in £500,000+ properties has fallen 4%.

Sellers are equally cautious. New listings are down 9% for million-pound homes and 7% for properties above £500,000. Meanwhile, the sub-£500,000 market shows demand and supply broadly matching last year's levels.

After 18 months of steady recovery, housing activity is plateauing. Budget speculation isn't new, but this year's rumours have gained more traction than usual. The combination of potential stamp duty savings and fears of new wealth taxes has created a holding pattern at the premium end.

Transaction timescales tell their own story about market confidence.

According to Hamptons, the average British home now takes 56 days to sell, eight days longer than in 2024. Properties marketed at £1 million and above remain the slowest movers, with selling times extending by a full month to an average of 78 days by June 2025.

Perhaps most revealing, 31% of million-pound sales in Q2 2025 had been listed for over six months, up from 23% in Q2 2024. While this sits marginally below the pre-pandemic ten-year average of 34%, it confirms the premium market has cooled considerably from last year's pace.

We're not in crisis territory, but we're definitely back to pre-pandemic speeds where sellers need to be patient.

The TwentyCi Property & Homemover Report Q3 2025 has uncovered goldmines that most agents are completely overlooking.

Something remarkable happened after last year's inheritance tax announcements, pensioners started moving in unprecedented numbers.

Since Q4 2024, retired people listing their homes increased 16%, while actual moves surged 26%. Since Q3 2024, moves have skyrocketed 45%.

The data reveals a clear profile of opportunity. In the first decade of retirement, 32% of pensioners list their homes, with 31% successfully selling since Q1 2024. But here's where it gets interesting, not all pensioners are equally likely to move.

●     Higher Council Tax bands: 87% more likely to list, 58% more likely to sell

●     Four+ bedroom homes: 65% more likely to list, 38% more likely to sell

●     Properties over 1,300 sq ft: 150% more likely to list, 130% more likely to sell

●     Bungalows: 470% more likely to list, 600% more likely to sell

●     Detached houses: 53% more likely to list, 23% more likely to sell

●     Rural locations: 55% more likely to list, 36% more likely to sell

The driving forces? Inheritance tax planning, downsizing, and lifestyle relocation are converging in early retirement, a window TwentyCi says most agents completely miss.

The strategic play: Focus your prospecting on larger, higher-value rural properties, particularly detached homes and bungalows in the pensioner demographic. This is where the volume opportunity exists right now.

Between 2022 and 2024, 15.8% of all English and Welsh properties changed hands off-market. For properties above £1 million, that figure jumps to 20.1%.

This isn't just about discretion and exclusivity; it's about a fundamental shift in how premium transactions occur. Sellers value privacy, buyers want first-mover advantage, and both are willing to bypass public listings to get what they want.

The opportunity: If you're not actively running VIP buyer campaigns, both online and offline, you're leaving multi-million pound deals on the table. I've seen it work repeatedly. The case studies speak for themselves.

If you haven't launched an off-market service yet, today is the day to start. The premium market increasingly operates in the shadows, and you need to be there.

Q3 2025 has proven the UK premium property market is more resilient than many predicted, but it's operating in an increasingly narrow band between cautious activity and outright stagnation.

Budget uncertainty hasn't killed the market; it's simply made buyers and sellers more strategic, more patient, and more selective. Price reductions and extended timescales are the new normal for now.

The winners in this environment will be agents who understand where the genuine opportunity lies: pensioner downsizers with valuable rural properties and off-market transactions where privacy commands a premium.

The market hasn't stopped. It's just gotten more sophisticated.

Thank you as always for reading my latest UK premium property market update, and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next release, in which I will be reporting on what happened to the premium property market in October.

P.S. If you enjoy reading these premium market updates, please do check out my LinkedIn newsletter that I release every month reviewing the whole of the market.

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