Rightmove cuts 2026 forecast to range of 0% to -2% growth
The average asking price of a newly listed home in Britain fell 2% in August to £364,999, according to data published Monday by property website Rightmove. The £7,360 monthly drop was much larger than in a typical August, and asking prices now stand 1.0% below their level a year earlier as mortgage rate rises over recent months have cooled the market.
Rightmove cut its full-year 2026 forecast for house price growth to between 0% and -2%, down from a previous forecast of 2% growth. The website attributed the downgrade to “the uncertain geopolitical picture, changing mortgage rate landscape, and new Chancellor’s first Budget in October.”
Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove, said sellers were responding to a slower market by pricing more competitively from the start. “This month’s larger-than-usual August price drop is a sign that many sellers are recognising the reality of the market and pricing much more competitively from day one,” she said.
Babcock added that buyers had the widest choice of homes for sale at this time of year in more than a decade. “While no seller likes to come to market lower than they might have hoped, Rightmove analysis shows that those who price realistically are statistically proven to be giving themselves the strongest chance of finding a buyer and successfully completing a move,” she said.
The latest Rightmove data also showed a widening North-South divide over the past 12 months. Prices in northern England were up 1.5% compared with a year earlier, while prices in southern England were down 1.8%.
London recorded the largest annual decline of any region, with asking prices down 3.1% year over year. In the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the newly listed asking price for a home dropped to £1,552,970 from £1,648,148 a month earlier — a decline of just over £95,000.