Upper end of housing market remains cautious amid expectations of new property taxes
The average new seller asking price fell by 1.8% in November, according to Rightmove’s latest House Price Index.
By comparison, over the previous ten years, the average price drop in November has been 1.1%.
The property website attributed this decrease to uncertainty about how the upcoming budget will impact personal finances and housing affordability, coupled with the decade-high number of homes available for sale forcing sellers to be competitive with asking prices.
Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove, said: “It appears that the usual lull we’d see around Christmas time has arrived early this year, and sellers who are keen to move are having to work especially hard to entice buyers with competitive pricing. This means that average new seller asking prices are now 0.5%, or £1,759 cheaper than a year ago.
“In addition, a third of homes already on the market for sale have had their asking price reduced, with an average reduction of 7%, further illustrating that this is a buyers’ market.”
Rightmove said that concerns are concentrated around the upper end of the housing market, which is expected to be the most affected by new property taxes. The number of sales agreed for homes priced over £2m is down by 13% compared to the same period last year.
By contrast, the sales agreed figure for for homes priced under £500,000 is down by just 4% compared to this time last year, while the total number of sales being agreed across the whole year to date is up 4% on the same period in 2024.
Meanwhile, the average two-year fixed mortgage rate is currently 4.41%, down from 5.06% at this time last year, but has been “slower to fall during 2025 than many predicted”, according to Rightmove.
The property company described the Bank of England’s decision to hold the bank rate in November rather than cut it as “disappointing to movers”, but Matt Smith, mortgage expert at Rightmove, said “there’s still a good chance of another rate cut before the end of the year.”
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