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June 29, 2025
The longest day of the year has come and gone, the heat dome has landed, and the tarmac has been so molten that the potholes have started to fill themselves… Yes, Summer 2025 has definitely arrived – and along with it a property market that many estate agents say feels as sticky as their polyester shirts.
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Recent news headlines have reflected that sentiment. I touched on it myself in an article a couple of weeks ago. These are national news headlines which speak of modest price falls, caution amongst buyers, and drawn-out sales timelines.
But if we scratch beneath the surface, the data suggests a market that is very much alive; look beyond the headlines, and we see encouraging signals for a market that could be set for a rebound over the second half of the year.
There are issues there, no doubt; the question is, are people looking in the right place to understand what the issues are?
In this week’s article, let’s take a measured look at the state of the market, peer at the picture we see here in Twickenham and Teddington, and add a bit of perspective to help all sides understand what is going on.
Rightmove released data in June showing that asking prices had taken a small drop – 0.3% in a month during which they normally grow by an average 0.4%, judging by data over the previous 9 years.
More recently, figures from both Halifax and Nationwide seem to back that data up, reporting an almost identical drop in actual UK ‘sold’ house prices – a monthly fall of around 0.3% to 0.4%, based on mortgages being issued by these two lenders.
It would seem to confirm a general ‘cooling’ trend that has been felt in the property market.
So, if prices are dropping, where is the positive news I mentioned?
House prices might be falling slightly, but in spite of that – or perhaps in some ways because of it – data from the mortgage market offers a ray of light.
Recent Bank of England figures show that there were over 63,000 mortgage approvals in May, marking the first monthly increase of 2025. Alongside this, the effective rate on new mortgages dropped to just over 4.5% for both 2 and 5 year fixed rates – with a number of options available with rates below 4%, for borrowers who meet certain criteria and have certain circumstances.
This growth in the number of mortgage approvals suggests that buyer confidence is rebuilding. Lower borrowing costs, a more stable economic environment, and a clearer interest-rate outlook with economists typically predicting two more base rate cuts this year, are encouraging those who had pressed pause to re-enter the market.
One area that does stand out in current market data is how long it is currently taking to market and sell a property. Figures this month from TwentyEA and reported in The Negotiator show that the average property transaction now stretches to around 205 days from ‘listing’ to completion.
This ‘time it takes to sell a home’ is up from 195 days a year ago.
So what does it suggest? A sluggish market lacking buyers? Or a longer legal process?
Actually, average ‘time on market’ has risen to 80 days, according to the same article in The Negotiator magazine.
Now, here is where things start to get a little interesting in the analytics. That 80 day figure is data from the last few days (26 June 2025). In January this year though, a Zoopla article placed this time at just 38 days.
Something seems to have dramatically changed in the past six months. But what?
Pricing looks like it has played its part. If we look at Rightmove’s data more closely, we note that average asking prices nationally rose from around £360,000 in December 2024 to just under £380,000 in May 2025. That equates to an approximate 5.5% increase in asking prices in the space of just half a year.
We can’t quite compare ‘sold’ prices over the same period, because there is a slight lag before sold prices become land registry statistics. Nevertheless, we can get a good idea where it will ‘roughly’ be, by looking at the data that is available, showing sold prices as far as April 2025 (as opposed to May 2025) – i.e. a five-month rather than a six-month period.
In December 2024, the average sold price nationally was £266,325; in April 2025, it was £265,497.
So, whilst average asking prices increased nationally by well over 5%, it seems that average sold prices fell nationally by 0.3%.
In other words, looking at the national picture at least, the sales market got it wrong. Whether that was sellers or estate agents – and we have to accept that agents bear a lot of responsibility for pricing strategy – asking prices seem to have been inflated significantly above what the market was willing to accept.
We can hand-wring all we like, but I suspect it was driven by the flurry of sales activity that we saw leading up to March 31st – the ‘stamp duty deadline day’ – which fired the market up during the first quarter of the year.
When market activity is fierce, it can look like buoyancy. Agents may have legitimately felt that they could achieve more for their clients.
And that is their job, after all.
However, when sales marketing times have risen from 38 days to 80 days – more than doubling – then property overpricing, deliberate or otherwise, must have contributed to this general increase in time on market – both the 80 days of marketing, and the subsequent 125 days of conveyancing.
And that last point is interesting in itself…
Estate agents tend to rush to blame solicitors and the conveyancing process… but if time on market has increased by 42 days on average this year, but total time to a sale has only increased by 10 days, then that tells a story too… it seems that conveyancing might actually be 32 days quicker!
As it happens, another interesting statistic that was revealed in the June 2025 Rightmove Report showed that properties which achieve viewings on Day 1 of marketing are 22% more likely to find a buyer than those that take 2 weeks to generate a viewing.
It seems obvious when you say it, but overpricing properties is the biggest culprit out there when it comes to slow sales or a sale that will fail.
The number of new listings – recorded as up by 11% year on year in May 2025 – shows that sellers are still willing to sell. Mortgage rates decreasing shows that lenders are still perfectly willing to lend. Mortgage approval numbers growing shows that buyers are still more than willing to buy.
But that extended time on market shows that although buyers may be willing, they will not buy at ‘any price’
Despite the gloom in some national headlines, the underlying data shows a live and active market. A small downward price correction is all that we have actually seen. A slight variance. It could even simply seasonal.
In any case, improved mortgage activity is a strong sign of a market’s health.
Even with longer sales times, motivated buyers are still very much in play too, and lifestyle factors continue to drive moves; upsizers seeking more space, downsizers freeing up equity, and first-time buyers keen to get a foothold.
The other thing to note of course is that national averages rarely tell the whole story.
The property picture in our pocket of southwest London is one that is much more positive than these national news stories are describing.
Data from Rightmove shows positive price growth for Twickenham over the last year, with recorded sold prices rising by 1%, currently sitting at an average of £766,335. They have remained steady in Teddington, but at least they haven’t dropped.
Where things look a lot different – and, that is also to say, hugely more positive – is that crucial ‘time on market’, from listing to completion; that is 121 days according to property data site home.co.uk – a far cry from the TwentyEA-reported average of 205 days… and actually, we have another story to tell, because here – in direct contrast to the national market – that time has come down by 7 days since this time last year.
A staggering difference to the national story, and a positive remark on the state of our local TW1, TW2 and TW11 property market.
So what should house buyers and sellers in Teddington and Twickenham keep in mind?
Setting yourself realistic timeframes, whatever you are selling or buying, will make the whole process less stressful and help you to plan better when you look at that annual calendar.
The message for those thinking of moving is pretty simple: despite any national data, the market here in Twickenham is still moving. Here at Bartlett and Partners we are well on top of our game, so if you have questions about the process, local market tendencies, or you want to talk about what we do in more detail to make sure our customers get moved, then please get in touch with us for some free, friendly and no-fluff advice.
HOM-F
Jun 2025
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