With the residential property market on track to end the year with 1.15 million sales completions – a 4.5% increase on 2024 – Zoopla has highlighted the key consumer trends and buyer behaviours that shaped the past 12 months.

According to the property portal, January was the busiest month for platform visits, a pattern it says reflects the so-called “Boxing Day Bounce” on 26 December and the traditional surge in New Year property searches as people begin planning moves for the year ahead.

May emerged as the most popular month to list a home for sale on Zoopla, with many families using the spring period to identify their next property before bringing their own to market. Meanwhile, HMRC data shows that March was the busiest month for completions, recording 178,000 transactions valued at £40,000 or more across the UK.

The average time to sell in 2025 was 38 days, up from 35 days in 2024, with three-bedroom terraced properties the most popular property type, accounting for 18% of buyer enquiries.

According to Zoopla, Falkirk remains the fastest-moving property market in the UK, with an average time to sell of just 13 days. It is joined by West Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire, and East Ayrshire, all recording the same rapid turnaround. Notably, all of the top ten fastest-moving markets are in Scotland, where properties are typically listed with a valuation and survey completed upfront, helping to facilitate quicker sales agreements.

Sunderland was the fastest-moving market in England and Wales, with an average time to sell of 23 days. It is joined by Bedford, Knowsley, and Carlisle, all matching the same 23-day selling period.

Fastest moving markets (UK-wide): 

Source: Zoopla

Fastest moving markets in England and Wales: 

Source: Zoopla

When examining trending keywords on Zoopla in 2025, “garage” takes the top spot, replacing “freehold”, which had led for the past two years. Other popular search terms include “annexe”, “double garage”, “acres”, and “pool”, reflecting buyers’ interest in additional features and extra space in their homes.

Table 3: Top keyword searches in 2024 and 2025

Source: Zoopla

The house price winners and losers

When it comes to the most expensive and cheapest local authorities to purchase a home, the borough of Kensington and Chelsea retains the crown as the most expensive local authority in the UK in 2025 with an average house price of £1,071,600, ten times more expensive than the cheapest local authority of Inverclyde, which has an average house price of £109,400.

Outside of London, Elmbridge in Surrey takes the top spot with average house prices of £705,800, followed by South Buckinghamshire2 – home to the UK’s least affordable town, Beaconsfield – with average house prices of £671,400.

Table 4: Most and least expensive local authorities to purchase a home in 2025

Source: Zoopla

-ENDS-

Reflecting on Zoopla’s 2025 key consumer trends and buyer behaviour report, Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, commented: “In a year when Budget speculation kept a lid on demand for most of the final six months, steady mortgage rates underpinned housing market activity. We expect rates to keep drifting lower in 2026 and sub-4% mortgages will become available across a wider range of loan-to-value deals.

“The tougher financial landscape for buyers after the Budget, including the income tax threshold freeze, will increasingly keep demand in check but the biggest near-term risk is political. Budget speculation could turn into conjecture about the occupants of Downing Street and their plans for the economy in the early months of next year.”

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, added: “While there are challenges that remain within the wider economy, it has been a year where the housing market has held its nerve and progressed forward. Many people are typically feeling a greater sense of confidence than only a year previous, and with inflation forecast to trend further downward over the coming months, we may see the Bank of England feel that much needed self confidence to further implement the downward journey for base rates.

“With the Autunm Budget also now behind us and with many people having a clearer picture of what the forthcoming months now looks like from a financial viewpoint; we hopefully should witness a positive start for the housing market as we head into early 2026.”