| Could it be the Trump effect? Or perhaps buyers are just too picky? We examine the factors that explain why ‘for sale’ signs might be staying up for longer
Blame Donald Trump, blame the shaky state of Starmer’s government, blame April showers, but if you really want to know why your home isn’t selling, it’s all about the money. Some 74 per cent of homeowners say financial pressures — mortgage rates, deposit requirements and stamp duty — are stopping them from buying your house. Affordability is the main hurdle for first-time buyers too — 42 per cent want lower deposit requirements and 39 per cent want lower mortgage rates, according to research by the consumer group Homeowners Alliance. “There are two missing elements in the market: clarity and confidence,” Jonathan Hopper, the chief executive of Garrington Property Finders, says. “Buyers want clarity that it won’t be cheaper to buy tomorrow, and they want confidence that their money is about to be spent wisely.” A full list of the possible reasons follows.
1. It’s overpriced
Every UK property professional we spoke to agreed: sellers are suffering from a surfeit of sentimentality and arrogance over pricing. “If other houses in your street have sold and yours hasn’t, ultimately, it’s because of price,” Edward Heaton, the founder of Heaton & Partners property search, says. “There is a tendency among sellers to assume that their house is better, to forget the downsides, cherry-pick the best elements and assume it is worth more.” In London, prices based on values 6 or 12 months ago are no longer feasible, warns Jamie Hope, the managing director of sales at Maskells estate agency. “There was a time not so long ago when pricing a central London property 10 per cent above its likely value was not only defensible but often rewarded. In a rising market, ambition had a habit of being validated. Momentum did the work. That market has gone. What remains, however, is the habit.” Sellers need to have a harsh word with themselves and beware of estate agents flattering with high – and unachievable valuations, Edward Hartshorne, a co-founder of the Blenkin & Co agency in York, says. He estimates “95 per cent of the stock languishing on the market currently has this as the cause”.
2. The state of the world
“Funnily enough the instructions aren’t drying up, but the enquiries are since our friend Mr Trump decided to go to war with Iran,” Simon Gerrard, chairman of Martyn Gerrard Estate Agents, says. “The geopolitical situation is definitely a talking point out there. In March we saw a 16 per cent downturn in the number of sales inquiries across the business compared with the same period in 2024 and 2025. That trend has continued into April.” In North Yorkshire the prime agent Ben Pridden, a director at Hewetson & Johnson, is noting “slightly fewer keen cash buyers”. It’s not necessarily the cost of living bothering reluctant high net worth’s, but the “punitive” tax situation. As announced in the autumn budget, from April 2028 owners of properties valued over £2 million will pay a mansion tax — an annual charge of £2,500 rising to £7,500 for properties of £5 million on top of council tax. “I think some [prospective buyers] are working on the basis there will be a change in government at the end of this current term. If the current tax situation is against their circumstances, hopefully in time it will be undone.”
3. Mortgage rates
Rightmove says the average two-year fixed rate has risen to 5.42 per cent from 4.25 per cent before the start of the war in Iran, adding a monthly average of about £235 to a typical new mortgage. Some 42 per cent of homeowners say lower mortgage rates would motivate them to make their next move, finds Homeowners Alliance. “The cost of living is definitely impacting on chains, particularly for upsizers with first time buyers at the start of the chain, who are more keenly affected by the fluctuations in mortgage rates and cost of living,” Kris Pearce, a director at Cheffins in Newmarket, says. These intertwined factors are leading to hesitation, the property search agent Samantha Child says. “Typically, upsizers had a mortgage at a 1-2 per cent fixed rate for many years; they are now facing a huge jump up trying to get their longer-term home. “Also, many more clients are looking to make that one serious move. They’re very conscious of when they lock in, it’s not just about ‘can I afford it today?’. They are really thinking through the long-term decision and taking their time.”
4. Stamp duty
Another reason behind the ever-decreasing pool of buyers is stamp duty costs. “Homeowners are thinking, ‘Why should we pay out tens of thousands in stamp duty and undergo all the hassle of moving when we could stay where we are and improve?’” Paula Higgins, the chief executive of Homeowners Alliance, says. “Maybe add an extra bedroom in the loft or a kitchen extension. For an £800,000 house you would pay £30,000 in stamp duty. It’s a lot of money.” In addition, 54 per cent of British buyers and sellers have been in a property chain that collapsed, according to Together, a loans, mortgage and finance company. Fear of losing money on conveyancing, valuations, surveys and searches is putting off buyers too.
5. It has hung around
A property on the market for more than a month or so starts to look stale. Child knows of an “absolutely idyllic” Georgian rectory in Hampshire that went on the market two and a half months ago at £2.45 million and has had 37 viewings. The price has recently been reduced to £2.25 million. “But they’ve missed that first month window. Buyers said, ‘It’s been on a while, what’s the matter with it?’” At Hamptons estate agency 47.3 per cent of properties for sale between January and March had been on the books — from listing until under offer — for more than three months, the highest proportion since 2013. Some 24.9 per cent had been on the market for at least six months before accepting an offer. Compare these figures with the same period in 2022, 31.2 per cent and 15.1 per cent respectively even though Russia invaded Ukraine in February that year.
6. Fewer first-time buyers
It all starts with first-time buyers, without whom there’s limited momentum to get the purchasing ball rolling, argues Gerrard. “But there is little incentive for first-time buyers to enter the market. They’ve lost Help to Buy, they’ve lost the generous stamp duty initiative [the 0 per cent stamp duty threshold for first-time buyers reduced to £300,000 from £425,000 on March 31, 2025, and prices haven’t come down a lot compared with how much they went up.” Also, the market is swamped with that traditional first-time buyer choice, leasehold flats, so would-be second steppers can’t offload theirs and move up. Buyers — including those downsizing into leasehold developments — are waiting to find out if leasehold reform happens before committing to high service charges, ground rent and other costs, Higgins believes.
7. Even fewer investors
Compounding the “leasehold flats problem” is the departure of buy-to-let investors, and accidental landlords — those who inherit a property, for instance — offloading for fear of the Renters Rights’ Act, which came into force on May 1st. “This is a main prevailing factor in London,” Liam Monaghan, managing director of the prime London buying agent LCP Private Office, says. “Buy-to-let investors are now largely absent. The maths doesn’t work out. With borrowing costs, stamp duty, rental reform, what could have been a nice rental investment just won’t add up.”
8. Buyers
“Presentation and attention to detail are more important than ever,” says the property search agent Jess Simpson. “If people are looking at a house and the first thing they notice is that the roof needs sorting or the boundary looks a bit funny, they won’t compromise. They must be totally confident in what they’re buying.” Katie Neale, a buying agent at Haringtons UK, says the rise of the “forensic buyer” means sellers must prepare for detailed scrutiny: “Many have become a bit blind to their own homes. What feels charmingly lived in to them can read as dated or compromised to a buyer walking through the door for the first time.”
9. Your local market
Despite the gloom, in Scotland you may be selling in a fortnight. All but one location — Gateshead, Tyne and Wear — in Savills’ top 20 fastest-moving markets are north of the border, based on listings data. Homes in top performers East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, Falkirk and Glasgow take only a median 14 days to sell. Outside Scotland, the northwest is the fastest-selling region with three locations in the top ten. Manchester heads with 21 days, plus Widnes and Runcorn (the unitary authority of Halton) and Salford, both at 32 days. Kensington and Chelsea (118 days) is third slowest behind the two Welsh locations of Gwynedd and Ceredigion. PropCast’s research measuring buyer demand in England and Wales by postcode backs up the northwest trend — with the exception of Liverpool city centre. The top hotspots are both in Carlisle, Cumbria. Meanwhile another two prime London postcodes, W1 and WC2, dominate the top five coldest markets, along with central Liverpool and Padstow, Cornwall. Prime markets in the north, the Midlands and Scotland are less reliant on mortgage debt, but any buoyancy might not hold if Middle East hostilities continue, Frances McDonald, director of residential research at Savills, warns: “Improved sentiment across regional markets risks being short-lived as mortgage rates climb in response to economic disruption. But total impact will ultimately depend on the length of the [Iran] conflict.”As with all media coverage of the property market, we need to take a balanced and sensible view at a local level. There are some valid points in this article particularly around pricing and presentation. The first four months of 2026 for Sparks Ellison and Chandlers Ford nave been surprisingly good. Has it been the best market we have seen, no. But it has certainly been a lot better that you would think. To add context to this, March was our 4th best month for sales agreed in the last 23 years. |
