UK housing market 2026: prices, selling costs, FSBO

The headline depends entirely on which index you read, because they measure different things. The official ONS and Land Registry measure, based on completed sales, put the UK average at 270,080 pounds for April 2026, the most recent official figure, up 3.8% on the year. Lender indices run fresher and slightly higher: Nationwide had the average at 278,024 pounds in May, up 1.7% year on year but down 0.6% on the month, with annual growth decelerating sharply from +3.0% in April. Halifax was broadly flat at 298,806 pounds, up just 0.5% over the year. The common thread across all three is the same: annual growth is fading and the most recent monthly readings are flat to negative.

Asking prices tell the clearest story about the mood. Rightmove's June benchmark of newly listed homes was 376,191 pounds, down 0.6% on the month and 0.5% on the year, the steepest June fall in 14 years. That gap between the 376,000-pound asking benchmark and the 270,000-pound completed-sale average is the spread between what sellers hope for and what deals actually close at, and it is widening because a record volume of homes is now on the market chasing the same buyers.

Our own June read across 45 listings on London, Manchester, and Birmingham, anchored on each city's published average and genuine mid-market stock, points to a typical 2-3 bed home around 325,000 pounds. That sits above the 270,000-pound national average, as you would expect from a sample weighted toward the priciest cities: London flats run far higher (averaging 513,632 pounds), while Birmingham sits below the national figure (around 257,802 pounds). It is a city-asking read rather than a national one, so treat it as a feel for big-city mid-market stock, not a substitute for the official completed-sale average.

Seller-side costs in the UK are modest by international standards, mainly because the seller does not pay any transfer tax. Stamp Duty Land Tax is the buyer's cost, not yours, and there is no separate seller registration tax. The UK also has no notary; the legal transfer is handled by a solicitor or licensed conveyancer.

The one large, optional cost is the estate agent. In the UK the seller pays the agent, on a commission basis of typically 1% to 2% of the sale price, with the high-street average around 1.42% including VAT on a no-sale-no-fee sole-agency arrangement. The buyer pays the agent nothing. On a 300,000-pound sale that commission is roughly 3,000 to 6,000 pounds, and it is the single biggest line a private sale removes.

Everything else is comparatively small and unavoidable either way. Conveyancing runs about 610 to 950 pounds in legal fees, or roughly 1,317 pounds all-in with disbursements and VAT for a freehold (more for leasehold). An EPC, required before you market, costs 60 to 120 pounds. Add it up and a sale with an agent costs around 1.9% of price on our 300,000-pound example, while a private sale costs under 0.5%, because the commission is the part that disappears.

Selling privately is entirely legal, and the only professional you genuinely need is a conveyancer or solicitor to handle the legal transfer and registration. No law requires an estate agent. What a private sale really swaps is the agent's commission for your own time spent pricing, photographing, listing, showing, and negotiating.

The practical catch is reach. The dominant search portals accept listings only from registered member agents, so a private seller cannot post to them directly and instead reaches them through a low-cost owner-listing or flat-fee service, or lists on owner-direct platforms and free channels. For a free owner-direct listing, Anyone.com charges neither a listing fee nor a commission. Price from completed-sale data rather than the optimistic asking prices on the portals: the Land Registry publishes every registered sale, and the gap between asking and achieved prices is wide right now.

Timing favors preparation over speed. Homes are taking around 60 days to find a buyer (roughly two months, with Scotland fastest at about 33 days), and then several more weeks to completion. Getting your EPC, title check, and property information forms ready before you market, and instructing a conveyancer the moment you accept an offer, is the most reliable way to shorten the window in which a buyer can renegotiate or walk away.