Rightmove says London’s sales market is facing its biggest stock build-up in 16 years, with a glut of flats helping drive the largest August asking-price drop since 2018 and putting extra pressure on sellers to price more aggressively from day one.
The portal said the average asking price of a newly listed home across Great Britain fell 2% this month, or £7,360, to £364,999. That is steeper than the 10-year average August drop of 1.3%, while annual asking prices are now 1% lower than a year earlier – the weakest comparison since December 2023.
For landlords and investors, the fresh point is not just that prices are softening. It is that London is now under sharper strain than the rest of the market, especially in flats, where buyers are looking harder at service charges, lease terms and total running costs before committing.
London stock pressure is widening inside the flat market
Rightmove said the number of homes for sale across Britain is at a 12-year high for this point in the summer, but London is further out on its own with the highest stock level in 16 years. The capital also posted the biggest annual price fall of any region at 3.1%, while the North West recorded the strongest annual rise at 1.9%.
That split matters for landlords considering acquisitions or disposals. A softer London market may improve buying conditions for investors who can move quickly, but it also raises the risk that sellers – particularly flat owners – will need to cut harder if they still want to attract a committed buyer before autumn.
This follows Residential Landlord’s recent reporting on Rightmove’s warning that sales are taking 216 days to complete, which already pointed to a market where stock is lingering for longer. Today’s figures suggest the pressure has now shifted further upstream, with asking prices being trimmed earlier as sellers react to weaker buyer urgency.
There is also a direct link to Residential Landlord’s July coverage of rising stock and softer asking prices. The latest update suggests that trend has not eased over the summer break. If anything, London’s oversupply problem looks more entrenched, especially where flats carry service-charge baggage that buyers no longer ignore.
That is the key landlord angle. The broad national number may tempt some investors to look for a bargain, but not every discount is the same. Flats in stretched parts of London can look cheaper while still carrying weaker rental yield maths, heavier service charges and slower resale prospects than regional houses.
Cheaper entry points do not remove the flat-market warning
There may still be opportunities for well-capitalised landlords, particularly cash buyers or those with light borrowing, because sellers who miss the first pricing window are more likely to accept a cut later. But the market is also signalling where risk sits. Buyers are no longer willing to overlook weak lease terms or high annual charges just because the headline price has fallen.
That makes this more than a routine summer slowdown. The capital’s flat market is being repriced by a tougher mix of affordability limits, heavy stock and closer scrutiny of ownership costs. Landlords who want to buy into that weakness need to underwrite the whole cost stack, not just the discount against last year’s price.
Primary source: Rightmove House Price Index.
Opinion
London’s flat market is starting to look less like a simple buying opportunity and more like a sorting process. Some landlords will find value, but plenty of sellers are cutting for a reason. A lower price is only attractive if the lease, service charges and resale path still make sense after the deal is done.
