As we enter the final quarter of the year the property market would usually experience a seasonal Autumn Bounce, however this time around new figures from Rightmove for October show that the property market is only up 0.3% in the past month and the usual average Autumn bounce for October is around 1.1%.  There are believed to be two main factors that are holding house prices back:

Firstly, there are more buyers than sellers, with buyer demand up by 2% and the amount of sellers is up 5% since the same time last year. Buyer demand is in fact up at it’s highest level in the past 10 years and this is causing sellers to lower their house price to achieve a quicker sale than their competitors.

Secondly, their are rising concerns about the upcoming Autumn Budget on the 26th of November. It is reported that house buyers have taken the stance to ‘wait and see’ until Rachel Reeves has announced what changes may happen to the process of both buying and selling a property. It is speculated that those on the higher end of the property market with homes worth more than £500,000 may be affected by a new sales tax which could replace Stamp Duty. Also for those who own a home worth more than £1.5million may lose their zero capital gains tax benefit. 

On a positive note the Bank of England Base Rate has been lowered to 4% since starting the year at 4.75%. In turn mortgage rates have fallen and the average 5 year fixed rate now stands at 4.56%. It is however an increasing concern that rate of inflation remains high at 3.8% which is well above the government’s target of 2%. Inflation is at a yearly high and is at the highest rate recorded since January 2024. With higher costs for consumers at the shops and with bills this may negatively affect the affordability for those who are wishing to buy a home.

What Are the Current House Price Figures?

In the UK there are various different sources that analyse the market and produce average house price figures with differing results so here’s a look at what each index has reported:

Halifax

The Halifax House Price Index reported in October and represents figures for September, shows a monthly decline of -0.3% and a year on year growth rate of 1.3%. Seeing that Halifax predict for the year to end somewhere between 0% and 3% we are currently in the median of their prediction. Halifax say that they “continue to expect modest growth” for the rest of the year. According to Halifax the average house price stands at £298.184. The Halifax national house price can seen in the chart below:

Halifax House Price Chart September

Nationwide

The Nationwide House Price index for September shows a 0.5% house price increase since August. The annual house price has also shown a modest monthly increase of 0.1%, from 2.1% in August to 2.2% in September. There has been an average of 65000 mortgage approvals which is similar to the pre pandemic levels which is said to be comparatively positive seeing that mortgage interest rates are far higher these days. The report for September shows that the national house price ended up at £271,995.

Nationwide House Price Index Sept 2025

Zoopla

Similar to Rightmove, Zoopla record advertised “For Sale” prices so they are always more optimistic than Land Registry results and prices that are reported by mortgage lenders. Zoopla are reporting that house prices inflation has slowed at 1.3% higher than the previous year, this figure is down from 1.9% in December so in theory house price growth has slowed significantly in 2025. Similar to Rightmove, Zoopla have downgraded their growth forecast by half from 2% to 1%.  According to Zoopla the average house price currently stands at £268,400.

Zoopla House Price Chart July 2025

Rightmove

House Prices on Rightmove are based on asking prices and the UK average now stands at £373,709. July’s figures show a significant decrease of £4531which is 1.3% lower than the previous month. Most significantly Rightmove have lowered their growth forecast for 2025 from 4% to 2%. The full report for July can be seen here.

Office of National Statistics

The Office of National Statistics now reports data in a report that is called Private Rent and House Prices. The data for July shows that over the past year the national house price has increased 3.9% for figures recorded up to May and stands at £269,000. These figures are delayed by a couple of months as they are based on completed prices. 

Should You Buy a House in 2025 or Wait?

2025 started of positively with many transactions and increased house prices. This was largely due to people trying to complete before the April 1st Stamp Duty hikes. Now that’s out the way house prices have started to fall. As we enter the second half of the year analysts have realised a more pessimistic view of how the year will end up and have lowered their growth forecasts.

There is currently the most available stock that we have seen in a decade and buyers have plenty of choice. With there being far more properties for sale than available buyers purchasers could take advantage of it being a buyers market.

There is a risk that house prices could fall further and maybe even take a tumble with a domino effect of sellers having to reduce their asking price multiple times. With this in mind house prices have reduced since their all time highs so as a buyer you will not be buying at the top of the market. It could be a good opportunity to a grab a a bargain from a seller who may have been tying to sell their home for quite a while, particularly for properties at the higher end of the market as we have seen that the higher priced properties have been taking far longer to sell. House buyers will likely see a lot of asking prices that have been recently reduced and buyers could find themselves in a good position to further ask for a reduction the sale price.

Here are some of the the predictions of how far house prices could rise or fall during 2025: