The Zoopla House Price Index shows renewed activity in the housing market, presenting immediate opportunities to build instruction volumes and sales pipelines.
Strong agreed sale numbers are supported by average mortgage rates dropping below 4%
40% of homes for sale are now cheaper to buy with a mortgage than rent, offering an effective hook for capturing first-time buyers
Sales activity is healthy, but subdued house price inflation at 1.3% requires firm vendor management on pricing strategies
House price rises are higher than last year in northern England and Scotland, driving regional instruction value
Price falls have moderated in southern England, bringing much-needed stability to local markets.
The housing market has started 2026 with renewed momentum, supported by improving affordability and strong demand from movers, while house price growth remains modest.
Conditions continue to vary widely across the country, making your local market insight and valuation expertise more important than ever for managing client expectations.
The average house price in the UK is £269,900. This is a rise of 1.3% over the past year, down from 1.8% a year ago.
House price growth remains modest despite a lift in housing market activity.
November 2025 | December 2025 | January 2025 | Annual price change (£) | Annual price change (%) | |
All UK property | £269,500 | £269,800 | £269,900 | £3,470 | 1.30% |
Flats/maisonettes | £191,600 | £191,400 | £191,500 | -£2,440 | -1.30% |
Terraced houses | £239,200 | £239,100 | £240,100 | £4,410 | 1.90% |
Semi-detached houses | £277,700 | £277,800 | £278,800 | £7,290 | 2.70% |
Detached houses | £452,900 | £453,000 | £453,900 | £7,320 | 1.60% |
Northern Ireland is seeing the fastest price growth at 8%, reflecting continued gains from a low base. Across Great Britain, the North West is the strongest-performing regional market, with prices up 3.3% year-on-year, followed by Scotland (2.8%) and the North East (2.5%).
In contrast, agencies in London are navigating a market where average prices are 0.2% lower than a year ago.
Stop guessing and start growing. Our team can help handpick the right products to win more business in your local market.
2026 has started with a strong rebound in housing market activity, accelerating transaction numbers. This is driven by the lowest mortgage rates in 4 years and improved access to financing, bringing first-time buyers in particular back to branch windows.
The number of agreed sales has increased sharply across the industry, but remains 3% below the very strong start to 2025. Sales are currently running at the fourth strongest February level in the past decade.
Notably, there are 8% fewer buyers in the market than a year ago, meaning agents must focus heavily on qualifying highly motivated applicants over chasing volume.
One clear trend dominating the industry in February 2026 is a surge in new vendor instructions.
February is on track to record the highest monthly number of new listings in a decade, reflecting improving seller confidence and a highly active mover market.
There are already 6% more homes for sale than a year ago, and branch inventories are expected to rise further in the coming months.
For agents, this increased supply boosts the portfolio of choice for buyers, but it also necessitates strict vendor management, as high stock levels will keep house price growth heavily in check over 2026.
Get first access to serious sellers and connect with top-quality prospects to grow your market share.
The UK’s most serious sellers use MyHome — secure these high-converting prospects before your competition does.
Win in the living room: see your prospect’s price expectations, their property searches and which agents you’re up against.
43% of these prospects convert to instruction, fuelling faster sales and boosting your commission revenue.
Healthy transaction activity is supported by falling base rates and strong competition between lenders.
Average mortgage rates for new loans fell to their lowest level in 4 years in January. Rates on both 2-year and 5-year fixed deals are now below 4% for the first time since 2022, providing a significant boost to the market.
While the base rate is likely to be cut again this year, brokers suggest mortgage rates are unlikely to fall much further. Even so, agents can confidently advise buyers that they currently have access to some of the lowest rates seen for several years, particularly those with larger deposits.
A major development over the past year - and a key marketing angle for agents targeting tenants - is how mortgage lenders assess affordability, particularly the ability of a borrower to afford higher mortgage rates in the future.
Lenders are typically assessing the ability to pay a 6.5% mortgage ‘stress rate’. This rate sat at 8.5% last year.
Lower stress rates mean agents can now share that 40% of homes currently for sale (on Zoopla) are cheaper to buy with a mortgage than to rent locally. This is a massive jump from just 25% of homes when tested against the higher stress rates a year ago.
These changes have delivered the strongest improvement in first-time buyer affordability since 2022, providing agents with a prime opportunity to drive first-time buyer interest.
Regionally, more than half of homes for sale are cheaper to buy than rent in the North East and Scotland, followed by the North West. In contrast, higher house prices in London and the Midlands mean that fewer than 40% of homes offer this dynamic, requiring different marketing strategies.
These changes benefit all buyers using a mortgage, supporting higher transaction values and house price growth, particularly across northern England and Scotland. The impact is more limited across southern regions, where agents must help buyers navigate higher stamp duty costs, an increasingly costly financial hurdle.
Average earnings have grown faster than house prices for the last 3 years. Alongside lower mortgage rates and relaxed affordability testing, this further improves housing affordability and heavily supports sales volumes across the industry.
Annual house price growth is higher than a year ago in 4 areas: the North West, Scotland, the North East and Northern Ireland. These markets are more affordable and have fewer homes for sale than a year ago, limiting buyer choice and giving more scope for above-average house price increases.
Across the rest of the UK, house price growth is the same or weaker than a year ago. In southern England, house prices are unchanged over the last 12 months. This stability is a marked improvement on the widespread house price falls seen over the second half of 2025.
However, affordability pressures and higher stamp duty costs continue to weigh on demand in southern regions. This is compounded by increased inventory, with up to 16% more homes available in some areas. As a result, we forecast that price growth is likely to remain modest through 2026.
Agents in southern England must have frank conversations with vendors planning to move this year; they will need to price realistically to secure a timely sale. Negotiators should ensure sellers factor this reality into the offers they make on their onward purchases to keep chains intact.
The housing market is seeing improved levels of transaction activity alongside subdued house price inflation. This is good news for market liquidity and represents a much more stable trading environment for estate agencies. Market conditions have improved, but some economic headwinds remain.
We expect continued modest rates of price inflation over 2026. This will support healthy pipelines with wide variations across local markets, reinforcing that the advice of local agents is absolutely essential in setting the right pricing strategy to get vendors moved.
The Zoopla House Price Index (HPI) tracks the change in achieved sales price of homes (it’s not an index that tracks asking prices). The index uses sold prices, mortgage valuations and data for recently agreed sales with more input data than any other index. The methodology is designed to accurately track the change in pricing for UK housing. It’s revisionary and non-seasonally adjusted.
Notes on this month’s data:
The number of agreed sales has increased sharply, but remains 3% below the very strong start to 2025: Four weeks to 15 February 2026 vs same period in 2025.
Sales are currently running at the fourth strongest February level in the past decade: Comparing the first 2 weeks of February to the same period over the last decade.
Average mortgage rates for new loans fell to their lowest level in 4 years in January: Bank of England BankStats - average mortgage rate for new business at 75% loan-to-value.
40% of homes currently for sale on Zoopla are now cheaper to buy with a mortgage than to rent locally: We looked at 1-3 bed homes for sale priced below £600,000, assuming a 20% deposit, which was the UK average in 2025. The monthly mortgage repayments for a loan with a 30-year term were compared to average rental costs in the same local authority, assuming a mortgage affordability ‘stress rate’ of 6.5%. The comparison to last year is based on a mortgage stress rate of 8.5%.
We try to make sure that the information here is accurate at the time of publishing. But the property market moves fast and some information may now be out of date. Zoopla accepts no responsibility or liability for any decisions you make based on the information provided.
When 15.2 million homeowners see their value gains tick upwards, they gain the confidence to move. See the latest exclusive Zoopla data on the value of the UK’s 30 million homes and how to turn our estimates into your instructions.
Read more
Our record-breaking start to 2026 is driving a tangible return on your investment with Zoopla.
Read more
Our 5 million subscribers create a pipeline of high-quality instructions, ready to drive your business growth.
Read more