Homes on the market have reached their highest number for this time of year since 2014, Rightmove said this morning, as rising listings and fading demand keep asking-price growth flat.
The portal’s October House Price Index puts the average asking price of newly listed homes at £371,015, up 1.0% on the month but 0.1% lower than a year ago. Sellers in cheaper and previously resilient parts of Britain are lowering expectations as high mortgage rates squeeze buyers, with the North East down 2.0% to £195,977 and Scotland down 1.9% to £203,415.
Wider choice and softer pricing open doors for buyers who can still borrow, though the same report counsels patience. Sales agreed sit 8% below last year and enquiries from fresh buyers have dropped 9%, while London’s 2.5% monthly rise looks fragile set against a 1.7% annual fall after a 6.0% slide over the summer.
Cheaper regions lead the price cuts
Four of the five lowest-priced areas of Britain recorded monthly falls. The North West slipped 0.6% to £273,222, Wales eased 0.3% to £267,735 and the South West dropped 0.6% to £376,189. At the top of the market, the most expensive homes rose 0.8% to £678,431, first-time buyer properties edged up 0.2% to £225,627 and second-stepper homes added 0.1% to reach £345,170.
Rightmove says buyers remain highly sensitive to price, with stretched affordability forcing sellers to be realistic from the outset rather than testing the market and cutting later. That discipline marks a break from the spring, when optimistic pricing left thousands of listings lingering before reductions followed.
Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove, said: “Higher mortgage costs are putting pressure on affordability even in markets with lower property prices.”
This follows Residential Landlord’s coverage of the September index, when asking prices rose 0.7% as homes for sale hit a 12-year high. Investors hunting value are already looking north, with Liverpool topping buy-to-let hotspot rankings on 8.1% price growth. The national picture is tracked in Rightmove’s House Price Index.
Buyers hold back as borrowing costs bite
The overhang of unsold stock is now the defining feature of the sales market. With 8% fewer sales agreed than a year ago and buyer demand 9% lower, sellers face longer waits and tougher negotiation, conditions that favour landlords buying below peak pricing if their finance is already arranged.
Rising mortgage rates cut both ways for investors. They weaken competition from owner-occupiers and press some sellers into reductions, but they also lift the cost of new borrowing and refinancing. Landlords weighing purchases in falling regions such as the North East and Scotland will need the sums on yields, not just discounts, to work at today’s rates.
The index lands just over a week before the Budget, when the Chancellor’s decisions on property tax could reset buyer sentiment overnight. Until then agents report buyers sitting on their hands, waiting to see whether moving costs rise before committing to offers.
Opinion
A decade-high stock level gives patient investors real bargaining power for the first time in years, yet borrowing costs mean only the well-prepared can use it. Landlords with finance lined up should be viewing hard in the regions where sellers are cutting first. Everyone else should hold fire until the Budget clears and the direction of rates is plainer. The rest of the autumn selling season will show whether sellers hold their nerve.
