Sprift’s latest Sales Market Intelligence Report, based on July 2026 market activity, found that new listings rose 2.6% to 209,941 in July, outpacing a 1.1% rise in sales agreed and easing the national conversion rate to 54.6%.
In July, despite the Bank of England holding interest rates steady, mortgage costs continued to rise. Two-year fixed rates reached 5.62% in July, up from 4.83% in February, and consumer confidence sat at -17, according to the report.
Against that backdrop, sales agreed growth failed to keep pace with a fresh wave of new listings for the first time since spring. New listings rose 2.6% to 209,941, while sales agreed grew a more modest 1.1% to 114,561, easing the national conversion rate 0.8 percentage points to 54.6%. Conversion has now eased steadily since November’s 69.7% peak, and price reductions affected 31.3% of stock, a touch lower than June’s 31.8%. Nationally, 95,380 listings remain unconverted, and nearly four in ten of them carry a price reduction.
The regional divide is now the widest it has been all year. Scotland leads Great Britain on conversion at 77.0%, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber at 64.5% and Wales at 62.8%. London trails badly on just 39.4%, a gap of 37.6 percentage points, the widest recorded between any two regions this year. Six of the 11 regions convert above the national average, with the West Midlands, North East and North West also outperforming. In Scotland, fall-through prices are running above the average new instruction price at £259,851 against £254,974. Buyers are paying above asking to secure stock.
Price reductions follow the same pattern. The South East carries the highest reduction rate at 43.6% of listings, while Scotland’s 21.5% is the lowest in the country. GB stock for sale now stands at 748,652 properties, sitting on the market for an average of 155 days, and the South East holds the largest unconverted backlog of any region at 17,637 properties, more than six times Scotland’s 2,559.
Planning applications offer a rare bright spot for future supply, surging 56.2% to 19,682 in July, though the approval rate eased slightly to 85.0% of decided applications as refusals grew faster than approvals. Consents granted this month typically become completions in two to three years, so the rise, if sustained, points to easier conditions further down the pipeline rather than an immediate shift.
Matt Gilpin, Founder and CEO at Sprift said: “July is another reminder that there really is no such thing as ‘the UK housing market’. Scotland is converting 77% of new listings. London is converting just 39%. Across Great Britain, new supply grew faster than sales agreed, leaving more than 95,000 July listings still searching for a buyer.
“Agents who know their patch and can back it with data are going to win more valuation conversations this autumn. In a market where buyers have more choice, the first price increasingly matters more than the eventual price reduction.”
