The typical summer lull in Britain’s housing market has been avoided amid the availability of bigger home loans fuelling a “buyer’s market”, according to a property website.
Despite the signs of a bustling market, Zoopla said it had halved its house price forecast for 2025 as buyers were taking into account increased stamp duty costs in their offers in England and Northern Ireland.
The record number of homes for sale was keeping price rises in check, it said, with the average UK house price in June sitting at £268,400, up £3,350 (1.3%) from a year earlier.
Richard Donnell, the executive director of the research and insight team at Zoopla, described the housing market as being “broadly in balance” with the flow of new properties matching the appetite of house hunters.
“We’re seeing healthy levels of demand and sales, but this isn’t sparking faster price inflation. In fact, more homes for sale, particularly across southern England, is re-enforcing a buyer’s market, keeping price rises in check.”
While market activity usually slows during the summer, this is not happening this year. Buyer numbers in July are 11% higher than in the same month of 2024, resulting in an 8% increase in sales being agreed.
Earlier this year property experts had reported a dampening effect on house price growth after the end of a stamp duty holiday in England and Northern Ireland on 31 March. However, recent government-backed changes to the way lenders assess mortgage affordability have served as a catalyst for increased activity, Zoopla said. Homebuyers using a mortgage can now borrow up to 20% more than they could as recently as three months ago.
With mortgage rates “holding steady”, Donnell said: “Less stringent affordability testing has boosted buying power.”
At the start of the year Zoopla predicted house prices would rise 2% in 2025, but it has cut this to 1%. While the index showed the annual rate of price inflation slowed to 1.3% in June, the report pointed to stark regional differences.
While house prices in Scotland, Wales and northern England are experiencing faster growth – typically of 2-3% annually – prices are rising at a much slower rate in the south. Prices have risen by 0.2% in the south-east and London and by 0.3% in the south-west.
The figure for the capital is pulled down by declines in some areas, including a fall of 1.5% in west London. Elsewhere in England, Truro, Torquay and Exeter registered some of the biggest declines, down 1.3%, 1.2% and 1.1% respectively.
“Greater supply of homes for sale and mortgage rates remaining higher than expected are the key reasons for weaker growth,” Donnell said.
New figures from Rightmove showed average asking rents across Britain, excluding London,rose 1.2% to a new record of £1,365 per month in the second quarter of 2025. The average advertised rate in the capital also reached a new high of £2,712, up 0.5% over the quarter.
The property website’s report said the average monthly rent paid by new tenants was £417 more than in 2020. This is an uplift of 44%, outpacing a 36% rise in average earnings over the same period.
However, much of this growth occurred at the height of the Covid pandemic. Since 2023, yearly rent rises have gradually slowed as supply and demand rebalanced. The number of available properties is now 15% higher than this time last year. However, it is still 29% below 2019’s level.
The less frenzied market means landlords are taking longer to find tenants, in some cases leading to rent reductions. Nearly a quarter (24%) of asking rents were cut during marketing, the highest number since 2017.
Rightmove’s property expert Colleen Babcock said despite rising asking rents, the “big picture is that yearly rent increases continue to slow”. “Supply and demand is slowly rebalancing towards more normal levels, though we still have a way to go before we reach pre-2020 levels,” she added.