"What’s notable this month is that activity in the market is staying fairly steady, even with ongoing cost‑of‑living pressures and wider global uncertainty."
- Colleen Babcock - Rightmove
Rightmove’s latest House Price Index (HPI) has revealed that the average price of a property coming to market has risen by 1.2% to £378,304 in May 2026, an increase of £4,333.
This exceeds the usual ten‑year May increase of 1% as market confidence remains surprisingly strong, but prices have still fallen by 0.3% since May 2025.
Rightmove reports that buyer choice is at its highest for this time of year since 2015, and with 32% of existing homes for sale seeing a price reduction, over-optimistic initial pricing is leading to longer selling times, as homes priced realistically from the outset tend to sell far more quickly.
Properties that required a price reduction spent an average of 127 days on the market, compared with just 36 days for those that did not need a price reduction, a gap of around three months.
Overall, despite global uncertainty and resulting cost-of-living pressures, the housing market remains confident, with the number of sales agreed just 4% below last year when mortgage rates were lower, yet still up 2% on the same period in 2024. This relative stability suggests that many movers are continuing with their plans where affordability allows.
The number of sales agreed in the heavily mortgage-dependent first-time buyer sector is also continuing to hold up at 4% below last year and only 1% lower than 2024. According to Rightmove, this indicates that first-time buyers have not yet been disproportionately impacted by recent mortgage rate rises, despite being more reliant on borrowing than other parts of the market.
More modest pricing by new sellers is helping to ease affordability at the entry level, with typical first-time-buyer homes seeing the smallest average monthly price increase of +0.3% and remaining 0.7% lower than at this time last year.
However, buyer affordability is driving a year-on-year north–south divide in price growth in England, with the more affordable North East and North West continuing to grow by 2.7% and 2.6% respectively, while London dropped by 2.4% and the South East fell by 1.6%. Meanwhile, Scotland and Wales both saw year-on-year price growth, with the former at 1.9% and the latter at 1.7%.
Rightmove’s daily mortgage tracker shows that the average two‑year fixed rate has dropped to 5.18%, from 5.42% last month, reducing the average monthly mortgage payment by around £50.
"It’s normal to see asking prices pick up as we move through the spring selling season," Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove, said. "What’s notable this month is that activity in the market is staying fairly steady, even with ongoing cost‑of‑living pressures and wider global uncertainty.
"The number of sales agreed is holding up well, consistent with trends we’ve seen in 2026 so far. However, this overall positive national monthly snapshot masks a north-south divide in year-on-year seller pricing power. Prices are rising in the north, but all sellers should note that buyer choice is now at its highest level for this time of year since 2015.
"Getting the asking price right from the outset is therefore increasingly important, as homes priced too ambitiously are taking longer to sell. Our research shows that a home that’s been reduced takes, on average, 91 more days to sell than a home that hasn’t needed to be reduced.
“That’s where agents have a key role to play, working closely with sellers to set realistic prices from day one to help homes to attract immediate interest and sell more quickly.
"What’s encouraging is how resilient activity has remained, even among first‑time buyers, despite the ongoing pressures of higher living costs and mortgage rates. The number of sales agreed in the first-time buyer sector is performing better than expected and is broadly tracking the wider market.
"Prices in the typical first-time-buyer sector are lower than a year ago, helping to support affordability. It’s a healthy dynamic that activity is continuing not because buyers are overstretching, but because prices are adjusting to levels that some would-be buyers can realistically afford."
Matt Smith, Rightmove's mortgage expert, added: "While mortgage rates remain higher than many buyers would like, the picture on affordability has become a little more supportive this month. Small rate falls can make a meaningful difference to monthly budgets, and when combined with greater flexibility in lending following last year’s review of affordability rules, many buyers are still able to make the numbers work.
"This helps to explain why activity has continued to hold up, particularly among first‑time buyers. Price sensitivity is clearly feeding through into more restrained pricing at the entry level, but importantly, this reflects affordability shaping the market rather than a drop‑off in appetite. Where homes are priced realistically, and budgets stack up, many buyers are still pressing ahead with their plans."
Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, said, “The recent spike in borrowing costs will only have a gradual impact on demand, as more favourable mortgage offers that predate the Middle East conflict lapse over coming months.
"A Labour leadership contest this summer will add to the mood of uncertainty and keep downwards pressure on prices and, to a lesser extent, transaction numbers. Speculation over the content of this autumn’s Budget and the ideological stance of any new Chancellor could also keep a lid on activity, especially if bond markets are unsure about their policy agenda and borrowing costs stay high.”
