The Glass Half Full, June 2026 UK Property Market
Hello there! Peter Garland-Collins here. I was chatting with a neighbour the other day, and they were convinced that the property market has completely "frozen over" because they’d seen a few scary headlines.
But here is the reality: the market isn't a block of ice; it’s more like a slow-moving river. It hasn’t stopped; it’s just found a steady, calm pace. Many people think prices are tumbling, but the truth is that the average UK home is worth £284,862. If you look back to March, that’s a tiny bit lower, but compared to five years ago, your home is still worth about £40,000 more than it used to be. That is hardly a disaster!
What if you found your dream home tomorrow? Imagine you’re walking down a street you love, and you see a "For Sale" sign on that one house with the beautiful bay window you’ve always admired. In the past, you might have been scared off by "bidding wars" where people were throwing money around like confetti. But today? Things are much more sensible.
Prices have dipped by a tiny 0.4% over the last year. To put that in perspective, if a house was £1,000 last year, it would be £996 today. It’s barely the cost of a fancy coffee! This means buyers can take a breath, look around, and make a move without feeling like they’re in a frantic race.
The "Bank of Mum and Dad"... and the other Bank Did you know that the "big" Bank of England (the people who decide how expensive it is to borrow money) hasn't changed their main rate since 18 December 2025? It has been sat at 3.75% for ages now.
Because that number hasn't budged in months, the banks that give out mortgages are feeling much more relaxed. In fact, 63,500 people got their mortgages approved this month. That is the highest number we’ve seen all year! It tells us that people aren't just "looking" anymore—they are actually getting the keys to their front doors.
Why things are feeling a bit easier Here is a cheering thought: the things we buy at the supermarket and the petrol station (inflation) are only getting more expensive by 3% now, which is much lower than it was a year ago. Meanwhile, the average person's paycheck is growing by 3.7%.
When your pay goes up faster than the price of milk or electricity, you have a little bit more left over at the end of the month. That extra "breathing room" is exactly why more people are feeling confident enough to start looking for a new garden or an extra bedroom.
What this means for us in CM14 While I spend my days looking at the national picture, I’m always thinking about how this affects us right here in CM14. When the national news says people are feeling more confident about borrowing money, we see that reflected on our own streets.
Even though we are currently in what we call a "buyer’s market"—which is just a fancy way of saying there are plenty of homes to choose from—the steady national interest rates mean that local moves in CM14 feel safer. People aren't worried about sudden shocks; they are making long-term plans for their families.
The Road Ahead As we head deeper into the summer, I expect we’ll see this "slow and steady" trend continue. Prices aren’t shooting up, but they aren't falling off a cliff either. For anyone thinking of moving, this is actually a very "polite" market. It gives you time to think, time to save, and most importantly, time to find the right place to call home.