DATA: ONS estimated monthly GDP rose 1.3% in year to May 2026
They report a monthly increase of 0.1% “was because of a rise of 0.3% in services and was partially offset by falls of 0.5% in production, and 0.8% in construction”.
DATA: ONS published construction output stats for May 2026
They report “Monthly construction output is estimated to have fallen by 0.8% in May 2026” and “The decrease in monthly output in May 2026 came solely from a decrease in repair and maintenance, which fell by 2.1%, while new work grew by 0.2%”.
DATA(PDF): Rightmove published rental trends tracker for Q2 2026
They report “The average advertised rent of homes outside London has risen by 1.9% this quarter to a new record of £1,397 per calendar month” and “In Q2 2026, the number of available rental homes dropped below the previous year’s level for the first time since 2022, and the number of homes available to rent nationally is now 1% below this time in 2025”.
DATA: UKF published buy-to-let lending stats for Q1 2026
They report “The average interest rate across all new buy-to-let loans in the UK was 4.71 per cent in Q1 2026” and “The average gross buy-to-let rental yield for the UK in Q1 2026 was 7.21 per cent, compared with 6.93 per cent in the same quarter a year previously”.
DATA: Financial Market Expectations For BoE’s Bank Rate
The chart provides a summary for the expected future level of Bank Rate based on daily data. The One Year figure was 4.28% on the 15th Jul, slightly up from 4.25% on the 8th Jul.
DATA: New Build Energy Performance Certificates, England
This chart provides a summary of the number of EPCs on new build properties, a useful leading indicator for net additions. The 52-week rolling total was 209,847 for the week commencing 6th Jul, slightly higher than the 209,464 total for the previous week.
POLICY: Andy Burnham became leader of the Labour Party
He is due to become Prime Minister on Monday.
POLICY: MHCLG published details on the second phase of Awab’s Law
“More hazards that pose an immediate danger to social housing tenants must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours, under strict new rules that will come into force on 30 November 2026”. They also published a guide for the social rented sector, an impact assessment of phase 2, and research on the implementation of phase 1.
POLICY: Government launched numerous consultations
MoJ launched a consultation on NSIP judicial review reforms, MHCLG launched one on time-limited relief from CIL in London, MHCLG launched one on leasehold enfranchisement valuation rates and another on the process costs, and HMT launched one on reforming land remediation relief.
POLICY: Welsh Gov review of the Warm Homes Programme
They published a report and response to it, with plans to “inject a further £17 million of funding into housing retrofit schemes”. They also committed to an additional 20,000 social homes by 2030.
POLICY: GLA published draft London Plan
“The draft London Plan sets out proposals for how London could develop over the next 20-25 years. It covers housing, transport, the environment, economic development, design and other key issues.”
REPORT: MHCLG published Levelling Up Missions annual report
It “fulfils the statutory requirement under Part 1 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 to report on progress against the 12 levelling up missions established by the previous administration”.
REPORT: NAO reported on construction skills
They report “At this early stage of the construction skills package, the government needs to manage significant risks to achieve its aspiration for up to 60,000 more construction workers by the end of this Parliament”.
REPORT: HoC CMS Committee reported on protecting built heritage
They report “Nearly half of the government’s 1.5million home building target could be met by giving a new lease of life to historic buildings currently lying vacant or under-used”.
REPORT: HoC PAC reported on unlocking land for housing
They conclude “Neither the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (the Department) nor Homes England have set out how they will judge whether the National Housing Delivery Fund (NHDF) has been successful, or how many homes they expect will be built on land unlocked by the NHDF, or by when” and “We remain unconvinced that the Department and Homes England have a strategic approach to allocating the NHDF to ensure a balanced portfolio of projects in a range of locations which support the objectives of the NHDF”.
REPORT: CaCHE reported on More Homes Scotland
The report, started before the formation of More Homes Scotland, contributes to “critical questions about the functions, form and design of the powers and mission of the agency”.
REPORT: IPPR reported on housing-led approaches to homelessness
They report “The most meaningful progress has instead come from places where local leaders have made homelessness a priority, driving improvements in both the provision and delivery of homelessness services” and define a housing-led approach.
REPORT(PDF): IMLA published market briefing
They report “The buy-to-let lending market is holding up well despite the pressure from higher mortgage rates. The sector continues to benefit from excess tenant demand and rising rents, supporting house purchase lending, which was 7% higher in March/April than the monthly average for 2025”.
REPORT(PDF): Molior published London residential development report
They report “People Are Not Buying New Homes In London” and “52% Of Absorption Is Build To Rent + Other Block Deals” but “The block deals are often ‘Plan B’ – not an exit route developers would choose”. They also report “There are 4,629 homes complete but unsold, this is the highest level we have ever seen”.
REPORT(PDF): BusinessLDN reported on Opportunity Areas (OAs)
The report “provides insights into how OA policy in the London Plan should evolve” and finds that “OAs have accommodated 227,618 homes since their designation” but “the capacity of many OAs is becoming increasingly constrained.
REPORT: RTPI & TCPA on local plans and the climate crisis
The report “provides a snapshot of local plan practice in addressing a range of climate change policy issues in England and presents the findings from a policy review of local plans in England”.
REPORT: Chris Beech on travelling wave dynamics in housing markets
The report, based on data for 1995-2026, documents “a travelling wave: relative growth leadership, independent of aggregate growth rates, begins in the highest-priced segments and propagates monotonically towards the lowest over multi-year cycles, robust across geographic and quantile representations”.
REPORT: RE:UK published briefing on rent controls
They “make the clear case on why rent controls, over the long term, lead to higher rents and reduced housing supply, while doing nothing to alleviate the core issue driving rent increases – a shortage of supply”.
REPORT: Propertymark reported on living in leasehold
They report that “despite legislative change and years of political commitment, many leaseholders remain unable to sell their homes, face rising costs and have limited ability to challenge charges, creating consequences for both consumers and the wider housing market”.
REPORT: Savills reported on the residential development land market
They report “Greenfield land values decreased by -1.2% this quarter, bringing annual falls to -3.3%” and “The South East experienced the greatest value fall in the quarter of -2.2%”.
REPORT: Knight Frank reported on the Single Family Housing rental sector
They report “There are now 26,407 operational SFH homes across the UK, with a further 12,378 under construction”.
REPORT: Twenty Ci published Property & Homemover report for Q2 2026
They report “New property listings increased by 2.7% in the year-to-date 2026 compared to year-to-date 2025” and “Buyer demand has declined 5.0% year-to-date 2026 versus the same period in 2025”. They also report “The average time to exchange in year-to-date 2026 was 130 days”.
NEWS: Hamptons reported on landlord sales
They report “the pace of landlord sales has slowed in recent months, following a spike in activity in the run-up to the implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act”.
BLOG: Bank Underground on mortgage borrower segmentation
Using k-means clustering “Three clusters emerge: one with low leverage, and two with high leverage but notably different income profiles” and find that “Lending composition has shifted gradually” as “High leverage, high-income borrowers now account for a larger market share, and first-time buyers increasingly fall into more leveraged segments”.
CORPORATE: M Winkworth published Trading Update
They report “H1 2026 sales remained resilient, closely tracking the strong start achieved in 2025, while lettings held up well and were not unduly impacted by the Renters Rights Act, which came into effect on 1 May 2026”.
CORPORATE: Barratt Redrow published Trading Update
They report the “Net private reservation rate improved to 0.64 compared to 0.63A (0.64R) for FY25, including a 0.08 contribution from private rental sector and other multi-unit sales” and “we anticipate minimal house price inflation and total build cost inflation could be c. 3% to 4%”. They also report “Part-exchange, which provides customers with a smoother home move experience and greater certainty, has also been a powerful sales tool, accounting for 21% of private reservations in the year (FY25: 14%)”.
CORPORATE: Crest Nicholson published Interim Results
They report “During the period, we reduced land buying, continued to market non-core land for disposal, moderated the pace of new site starts and aligned work in progress with revised sales expectations for FY26 and FY27” and “The Group continues to manage build cost inflation of c. 3-4% on average, mostly on materials, through disciplined procurement”.
CORPORATE: Foxtons published Trading Update
They report “Since the Group’s Q1 trading update on 23 April 2026, trading has been adversely impacted by the prolonged downturn in the sales market, as well as short-term volatility in the lettings market following the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act (“RRA”) in May”. On lettings, they report “Following the introduction of the RRA, which abolished fixed tenancy terms and increased tenant flexibility to terminate tenancies, the Group experienced elevated levels of tenancy terminations during May and June, particularly in student rentals. This resulted in the reversal of approximately £3m of previously recognised revenue that had been contractually due.”
Chart of the Week
The Homes England annual report provides useful data on the repayment of Help-to-Buy equity loans by the year they were issued. For those issued in the first year of the scheme (2013/14) 83% had been repaid by 2025/26 while for those issued in the last year of the scheme (2022/23) just 3.2% have been repaid. The profile shows a rush to repay ahead of the interest payments starting in year 6 but the overall proportion paying off their loan has fallen for loans issued in 2018/19 and later when compared to earlier vintages.
