What is currently happening in the UK property market?

| Chris Watkin

In the latest episode of the UK Property Market Stats Show, I’m joined by Alice Bullard of Nested to examine the key housing market trends from the week ending Sunday 10 May 2026 (Week 18).

We begin by analysing the latest sales, listings and price movement data from across the UK property market, including why the market delivered its second-strongest week for sales so far this year despite ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

In the second half of the show, we turn our attention to Notting Hill, where we assess the performance of local estate and letting agents to determine who is leading the market.

While the case study focuses on one London hotspot, the methodology has relevance for agents everywhere. In a market where overvaluing and fee discounting remain common tactics, the analysis demonstrates how agents can use hard performance data to differentiate themselves from competitors, win more instructions and justify stronger fee levels.

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3 Comments

  1. Chris Watkin
    May 29, 2026 at 08:31

    CRYSTAL PALACE, THE £63,000 ESTATE AGENT QUESTION
    In the second part of the show, I showed the £63k difference on choice of agents.
    Most homeowners think all estate agents are roughly the same. Crystal Palace suggests otherwise.
    Using two years of market data, one agent would leave the average homeowner more than £30,000 better off than the suburb average. Another would leave them over £33,000 worse off.
    That is a £63,000 swing.

    Not because of luck. Not because of the market. Not because of the buyers.

    The same town. The same buyers. The same market conditions.

    The difference is pricing strategy, negotiation skill, buyer management and sales progression.
    Yet many homeowners still choose an agent based on who charges the lowest fee or promises the highest valuation.
    A £1,500 fee saving can feel clever.
    A £30,000 loss is expensive.
    The uncomfortable truth?

    Most estate agents never show this sort of data because it exposes the difference between looking busy and actually delivering results. Crystal Palace was another reminder that the biggest gap in estate agency is not fee levels. It is performance.

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  2. Chris Watkin
    May 29, 2026 at 08:35

    OVERVALUING IS NOT A PRICING STRATEGY
    The industry still treats overvaluing as if it is a clever listing tactic. It is so so so not. It is simply borrowing disappointment from the future. The Crystal Palace data showed excatly the same pattern we see week after week after week after……

    The agents with the highest levels of overpricing also suffered some of the highest levels of price reductions and withdrawals. Funny that. A property is most valuable when it is fresh to the market. Not after three reductions. Not after sixty days. Not after buyers have started asking, “What’s wrong with it?” The market does not reward optimism. It rewards accuracy.

    Every unnecessary reduction weakens negotiation leverage. Every week on the market reduces urgency. Everybl**dy month unsold increases the risk of withdrawal. Estate agency has spent decades pretending price reductions are part of the process.

    They are not. Most are evidence the process failed at the start. If overvaluing creates more price reductions, more withdrawals and fewer completed sales, why are so many agents still doing it?

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  3. Chris Watkin
    May 29, 2026 at 08:37

    One statistic from this week’s show should make every estate agency owner uncomfortable.
    The average UK agent only exchanges on 54% of the homes they list. Think about that for a second. Half the homes they persuade people to put on the market never reach exchange & completion.

    Yet many estate agencies still celebrate instructions as if the job is done. The listing is not the win, it’s the exchange & completion. Too many EA businesses measure success by market share, board count & valuation.

    The industry’s obsession with winning instructions has created a culture where getting the listing matters more than delivering the outcome. That is why fees are under pressure. That is why vendors struggle to see the difference between agents. And that is why the best agencies are increasingly using data to prove they are not just better at listing homes.
    They are better at getting people moved.

    If homeowners were shown the true completion rates of every local agent before choosing one, how different would the pecking order look?

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