2026 - What's ahead for us all in the world of Property?

What's ahead for 2026? 

Hopefully less drama and a little more consistency..... 

Another year of ups and downs in the world of property, just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse after the previous few years, here we are! The first half of 2025 saw signs of a glimmer of recovery and slowly through the spring, we felt some of the pressure lifting from a catastrophic few years of the Covid boom, the interest rate rise induced decline and change of government with hopes of a better year.

Alas! With press speculation rife and news each day reporting signs of recovery and green shoots and then caution, doom and a further potential crisis, the news of tax changes and a potential budget disaster forced many people to ground to reconsider their options.

Landlords have been in a state of constant anxiety with the Renters Rights Act promising to create chaos for landlords and agents alike and many excellent landlords made the hard decision to sell investment stock, which in our experience predominantly sold to first time buyers.

Nationally, rental supply has reportedly fallen by around 13% compared with pre-pandemic levels, while demand remains much higher, which tells you everything about the pressure renters are still facing. Meanwhile, average UK house prices have hovered around 3–5% below their 2022 peak, depending on region — not a crash, but definitely a wobble.

The mortgage market began to ease some restrictions with lenders offering slightly more competitive deals, however anyone with a high-rise apartment for sale in the city has had to accept plummeting values with the Building Safety Act complications, non-qualifying leaseholder stipulations, soaring legal costs, and mortgage lenders refusing to lend where service charges are high, or where they are located within reach of certain commercial premises. 

Fast forward to autumn and the market died a sudden death at the hands of Rachel in accounts who starting to preach about property tax changes and landlord charges handing the market an early Christmas by pushing the autumn budget back by a month to the end of November. Fortunately, the actual budget didn’t match the speculation and we are hopeful (eternally) of a better year for 2026.