Property Market Update | September 2026
Property Market Update | September 2026
September did what September usually does. People came home from holidays, the phones started ringing again, and asking prices rose for the first time since May. But mortgage rates climbed through the month, and there are still more homes for sale than there are buyers to go round. Here's what September delivered, and what October is likely to ask of anyone planning a move.
September in Review
Asking prices up 0.7% to £367,440, the first monthly rise since May, according to Rightmove. They're still 0.8% down on a year ago and 2.3% below the start of summer.
Stock at a twelve year high for the time of year, while buyer enquiries and agreed sales are both running around 9% below last September.
Achieved prices up 0.8% on the year, according to both Zoopla and Nationwide. That's the slowest growth in over two years, but it's still growth.
So this is a recovery of lost ground rather than a turn in the market. Prices aren't falling in any meaningful sense. They're standing still while buyers work out what they can afford.
Interest Rates: What's Actually Moving
Base rate held at 3.75% on 17 September, but by a 6 to 3 vote, with three members wanting a rise. The next decision is on 5 November.
Inflation reached 3.1% in August, driven by energy costs, and the Bank expects it to rise further over the winter.
Average two and five year fixes hit 5.98% and 6.00% by 5 October, according to Moneyfacts, the highest in around three years.
Lenders have repriced on expectation rather than waiting for the Bank. Rightmove estimates a typical new mortgage now costs around £180 a month more than it did in February. That doesn't stop people moving, but it does shape what they can offer. We won't guess where rates go next. This year has made fools of plenty who tried.
The Regional Picture
The South East was steadier than in August, if not exactly lively. Asking prices rose 0.3% to £471,138, still 1.8% down on the year, and homes are taking 72 days on average to find a buyer. Rightmove reckons around 56% of homes coming to market here currently sell, against roughly six in ten nationally.
There's better news underneath. Nationwide has outer South East prices flat on a year ago, and the part of the market most of our clients sit in did better than average. Rightmove's top of the ladder sector, larger family homes, rose 0.9% in September and is 0.5% up on the year.
Across Surrey and Kent, that's exactly how it feels on the ground. Family homes priced with the market are agreeing. Homes still carrying spring expectations are sitting.
What October Holds
Mortgage pricing has moved sharply in the last fortnight and will feed into buyer budgets as the month goes on.
The Autumn Budget on 28 October has prompted speculation about stamp duty, capital gains and whether the £2m surcharge might reach further down the market. None of it is confirmed, so we'd never plan around a rumour. Budget weeks do make some buyers pause, though.
October is still one of the busier months of the autumn, and a sale agreed now points to a move early in the new year. The buyers out looking at this stage tend to be the committed ones.
Zoopla expects annual price growth to ease towards 0.5% by December. Steady, then, rather than spectacular.
If You're Thinking of Selling
74% of homes sold this year were priced right first time and never needed a reduction, according to Rightmove. With this much choice, your home is being compared with everything else a buyer saw that weekend. Price with the market from day one and put the effort into presentation. Autumn light is soft and generous, and a beautifully photographed home launched in October will always do more than a tired listing on its third reduction.
If You're Buying
You have choice, time and room to negotiate. The thing to move on is your finance. Lenders are repricing week by week, and a mortgage offer in hand gives you certainty while everything around it shifts.
Our Read
September's rise in asking prices was a welcome headline, and a genuine one. The bigger story is plenty of homes for sale and borrowing costs heading the wrong way. That isn't a crisis. Prices are holding, people are moving, and good homes are selling. The market now simply rewards realism and presentation far more than optimism.
That's always been where we feel most at home.
