Someone might want to tell the buyers, because they are still buying. And in serious numbers.
Doom. Gloom. The Budget. The Gulf. Apparently, every estate agent having a bad month is now a victim of the economy.
But what if the market is not nearly as bad as some agents need you to believe?
This week, Nick Neill joins me on the UK Property Market Stats Show to separate the facts from the excuses. Overvaluing to win instructions. Cutting fees to win business. Waiting three months before having the pricing conversation that should have happened on day one.
And then blaming the market when nothing sells. The numbers tell a rather uncomfortable story.
Because sometimes it is not the property market that is broken. It is the estate agency strategy. & mindset. Winning the instruction is easy when you promise the homeowner what they want to hear. Selling the bl**dy house is the bit that proves whether you are any good.
If you are an estate agent who wants to know what is REALLY happening in the UK property market, rather than hiding behind headlines, watch this week’s show on YouTube
Nick & I will show you the UK property market numbers, challenge the excuses and ask some questions that a few estate agents would probably rather we kept to ourselves. There is also a section in the last 30mins of the video on all the estate & letting agents in Ipswich and who is the best (and who needs to pull their socks up)
Watch it. You might discover the market is not your biggest problem…
🟩 Listings
Week 44 ..
28.7k new listings this week, (27.5k last week).
Weekly 2026 average : 35.4k.
10 year week 43 average : 28k
Year to Date
1.557m new listings YTD, which is …
0.1% below 2025 YTD (1.532m)
1.2% higher of 2024 YTD (1.560m)
8.8% higher of 2023 YTD (1.423m)
8.8% higher than the 2017–19 average YTD (1.423m).
7.8% higher than last decade YTD average – (1.445m). Graph 1 Graph 3 Graph 4
🟩 UK Gross Resi Sales
Week 44 ..
20.5k homes sold stc this week 43 (21.8k last week) – a drop of 5.9% from last week
Decade Average Drop from week 43 to 44 is 5.9%
10 year week 44 average : 22.5k
2026 weekly average : 23.9k.
Year to Date for house sales
1.053m UK homes sold stc YTD, which is …
7.5% lower than 2025 YTD (1.139m)
3.9% lower to 2024 YTD (1.096m)
10.3% higher than 2023 YTD (954k)
4% higher above pre Covid 2017-19 years (1.012m).
2% lower than the decade YTD average (1.075m). Graph 8 Graph 10 Graph 11 Graph 12 Graph 13
🟩 UK Net Resi Sales YTD
(Net Sales being Gross Sales less Sale Fall Thrus).
Week 44
14.9k Net Sales (16.5k last week)
10 year Week 43 average: 16.7k.
Weekly average for 2026: 18.4k.
Year to Date
810k UK net home sales YTD, which is …
6.6% lower than 2025 (867k),
3.5% lower than 2024 (839k),
13.3% ahead of 2023 (714k)
2.1% above the 2017/18/19 average 793k). Graph 18 Graph 19 Graph 20 Graph 21
🟩 Exchanges & Withdrawals
• 66.8k Exchanges in Oct 2026
• 62.9k Withdrawals in Oct 2026
(Note these numbers will change as more exchanges/ withdrawals from October come in during the first few weeks of November)
• Therefore, in October 2026, just 51.5% of homes that left agents’ books exchanged & completed in October (the rest – 49.5% withdrew, unsold)
• 57.6% is the 7 year average exchange to listings ratio (which includes the crazy years post lockdown 18 months). Graph 24 Graph 25
Additional info …
🟥 Price Reductions
• 24k reductions this week on 758k UK homes for sale
• 13.7% of UK homes for sale were reduced in October (down from 14.7% in September)
• 2026 YTD average 13.1%, versus the 7 year long term average of 11%.
🟥 Price Difference between Asking Price of Listings & Asking Price of those Homes that go Sold stc
• Week 44 – 16.9% difference (long term 10 year average is 16% to 17%). (£416k ave Listing Ave Asking price vs £356k Sale Agreed ave Asking price)
🟥 Sell-Through Rate
• 13.4% of homes on agents’ books went SSTC in October ’26 (compared to 14.7% in Sept, 14.7% in August ’26 & 13.8% in June ’26).
• Pre-Covid average: 15.5%.
🟥 Sale Fall-Thrus
• Week 44 Fall-thru rate 27.4%
• Decade average: 24.5%
• 5.42% of homes sold STC fell thru in October 2026. Interesting when compared with the 2026 YTD average of 5.1% and 2025 average of 5.3% and the 10 year average of 5.7%.
🟥 Stock Levels
• 758k homes on the market on the 1st of November ’26 (742k in Nov 25, 724k in Nov 24, 664k in Nov 23). Graph 27
🟥 Transaction Times
• 76 days from Listing to Sale Agreed
• 122 days from Sale Agreed to Completion
(Rolling 12 month stat)
🟥 UK Rental Data
• Average Rent in Wk 44 – £1,858 pcm
• Average Rent in MTD November 2026 – £1,834 pcm
• Average Rent in November 2025 – £1,769 pcm
• Average Rent in November 2021 – £1,449 pcm
• Average Rent in YTD 2026 – £1,767 pcm
• 320k UK Rental Stock available to rent on 1st Nov 26 (323k on 1st Nov 2025)
• New Rental Properties coming onto the market in Oct 2026 – 149.7k (153k in Oct 2025 & 116k in Oct 2022). Graph 29
🟥 House Prices (£/sq.ft)
• Sept ’26 agreed sales averaged £339.07 per sq.ft. 0.8% lower than 12 months ago (£341.95) and 12.5% higher than 6 years ago (£301.40).
The £/sqft at sale agreed matches the HM Land Registry Index with a 98% accuracy, 5 months in advance. That is why it is so important.
🟥 Local Focus this week in the Show
Ipswich
