UK house asking prices see sharpest July drop in over 20 years

Asking prices for newly advertised British houses and apartments recorded their biggest July fall in more than 20 years this month, property site Rightmove said this week.

Prices for property put on sale during Rightmove’s July period – which runs from June 8 to July 12 – were 1.2 per cent lower than for property marketed a month earlier, the biggest June to July drop since the series began in late 2001.

Compared with a year ago, asking prices were 0.1 per cent higher.

“With the number of available homes still at a decade-high level, summer sellers are pricing even more competitively to attract buyer interest,” Rightmove said.

British property sales surged earlier this year but then fell sharply after the end of a temporary tax break on many purchases in April.

“Discerning buyers can quickly spot when a home looks over-priced compared to the many others that may be available in their area,” Rightmove property expert Colleen Babcock said.

While sales volumes are still running at around 5 per cent above 2024 levels, Rightmove said it was cutting its forecast for price rises over 2025 as a whole to 2 per cent from 4 per cent due to the high level of competition between sellers. Overall, Rightmove expects 1.15 million property sales in 2025.

Prices fell most in inner London, which saw a 2.1 per cent monthly drop, while the biggest rise was in northeast England where there was a 1.2 per cent rise.

Earlier this month Nationwide Building Society, Britain’s second-biggest mortgage lender, said its house price index dropped by 0.8 per cent in June, the biggest seasonally adjusted monthly fall since November 2022.

Official data, which is based on completed purchases, showed that house prices in May were 3.9 per cent higher than a year earlier, down sharply from annual growth of 7.0 per cent in March.

Rightmove said smaller price rises, combined with strong pay growth and lower mortgage rates, were making property purchases more affordable. Typical mortgage rates for a two-year fixed period have dropped to 4.53 per cent from 5.34 per cent over the past year, while average wages rose 5.0 per cent in the year to May.