14/01/2026
Well, everyone needs a good backdrop 😉
Glad the LightHouse could lend a wall for the occasion 🤠
A year of adjustment, not decline
As we move into the early weeks of 2026, it’s worth taking a step back and reflecting on how the market has evolved over the past year.
Let’s start with a simple observation. 2025 hasn’t been a year of collapse or crisis in the property market, but it has been a year of adjustment. Buyer behaviour has changed, affordability has mattered more than it has for some time, and the market has gradually moved away from the conditions many sellers still remember from 2021 and 2022.
Homes are still selling. Buyers are still active. Lending is still available. What’s changed is how decisions are being made.
The year began with improving confidence. Early interest-rate cuts and buyers looking to act ahead of stamp duty changes brought momentum back into the market. Enquiries picked up, mortgage approvals increased, and sales were being agreed at a healthier pace than we’d seen through much of 2024.
As the year progressed, however, conditions became more competitive. Stock levels continued to rise, giving buyers more choice and, with that, more negotiating power. Borrowing costs, while no longer increasing, remained significantly higher than during the ultra-low-rate years of 2021 and 2022, meaning affordability played a far bigger role in decision-making.
By late summer and into autumn, activity began to slow. This wasn’t because buyers disappeared, but because confidence softened. Decision-making lengthened, discretionary movers became more cautious, and many people chose to wait rather than act quickly.
A large part of that hesitation centred around the Autumn Budget.
Towards the end of last year, we saw asking prices adjust, particularly in December. This wasn’t panic or a collapse in values; it was sellers responding to a more value-driven buyer who now had both choice and time on their side. Homes that adapted tended to sell. Those that didn’t often struggled.
That theme has run right through the year: the market has continued to function, but it has not been forgiving. Strategy, pricing and presentation have mattered more in 2025 than they have for some time.
If you would like to know any more information regarding the current market, please get in touch!
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