DATA(PDF): Zoopla reported UK house prices rose 1.2% in 2025
They report “Confidence returns after 2025 Autumn Budget uncertainty” and “Buyer demand rebounds as 2026 gets underway – tracking in line with 2024 levels and 9% down on 2025’s strong start” but “Higher stock levels put pricing discipline front and centre for sellers, especially in southern England”.
DATA: BoE published effective mortgage rates for Dec 2025
They report the average rate on new advances, both purchase and remortgage, was 4.16%, down from 4.20% the previous month. Meanwhile, the average rate on outstanding balances increased to 3.92% from 3.91% the previous month.
DATA: BoE reported 61,013 mortgage approvals for purchase in Dec 2025
The number of seasonally adjusted mortgage approvals for house purchase was 4.8% lower than the previous month and 8.4% lower than the same month in 2024. The number of approvals for remortgaging was 24.2% higher than one year ago.
DATA: HMRC reported 100,440 residential transactions in Dec 2025
The estimated number of transactions was similar to the previous month (-0.1%) and 4.7% higher than the same month in 2024.
DATA: MHCLG published Energy Performance Certificate data for Q4 2025
The number of new build EPCs is a good leading indicator for net additions and shows there were 202,803 in 2025. This figure is slightly lower than the numbers recorded in the weekly data used in the chart below as it is better cleaned.
DATA: Scottish Gov published Landlord Register data for Dec 2025
The data shows the number of registered landlords fell by 2.0% (4,807 landlords) during 2025 but the number of registered properties only fell by 0.1% (213 properties).
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 3.41% on the 28th Jan compared to 3.32% on the 21st Jan.
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 209,929 for the week commencing 19th Jan, slightly lower than the 210,227 total for the previous week.
POLICY: MHCLG published draft Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Bill
The Bill will make “it easier for existing leaseholders to convert to commonhold should they wish to do so”, ban “the use of leasehold for most new flats”, cap “ground rents at £250 a year, changing to a peppercorn after 40 years”, “introduce a new, fairer and more proportionate lease enforcement scheme benefitting both leaseholders and landlords”, and “tackle similarly harsh enforcement powers that apply to estate rentcharges on freehold estates”. They launched a consultation on the plans to ban new leasehold flats.
POLICY: MHCLG launched social and affordable housing package
The package includes “Making £2.5 billion in loans available to private registered providers of social housing at just 0.1% interest”, “Allocating an extra £3.5 million through the Council Housebuilding Support Fund”, “Increasing the Housing Revenue Account threshold – a ringfenced account for income and spending on councils’ own housing stock – from 200 to 1,000 homes”, “Extending the discounted borrowing rate for council housebuilding from the government’s lending facility, the Public Works Loan Board”, “Confirming how social rent convergence will be implemented so providers can bring rents that are currently below the government’s formula up to that level over time”, and introducing the new Decent Homes Standard in 2035. They also published “details of emergency measures to get the Section 106 market moving again and prevent the problem recurring by laying the foundations for a simpler, more transparent, and more resilient Section 106 system”.
POLICY: MHCLG launched phase 2 of the New Homes Accelerator
Phase 2 will see support “extended to smaller sites of under 500 homes – with a sharp focus on getting homes built this Parliament and ramping up housebuilding in London”.
REPORT: MHCLG EHS report on housing quality and energy efficiency
The English Housing Survey based report finds that “In 2024-25, 3% of households were overcrowded and 40% were under-occupied” and “There were 4.0 million dwellings (15%) that failed to meet the current Decent Homes Standard in 2024”.
REPORT: MHCLG briefing on “Modelling a new Decent Homes Standard”
They report “The introduction of this new standard would initially increase failure rates from 10% to 45% in the social rented sector (SRS) and from 21% to 48% in the private rented sector (PRS)” and forecast the cost of meeting the standard to be “£26.5 billion in the PRS and £11.3 billion in the SRS, though only £5.4 billion and £1.8 billion of these costs are those above and beyond existing obligations respectively”.
REPORT: MHCLG published a review of delays and barriers in planning
The 2022 report “provides an in-depth look at the barriers and delays experienced during the planning applications process, through interviews with both local planning authorities and applicants”.
REPORT: MHCLG published a 2023 review of previous market downturns
The report “analyses 4 English housing market downturns from 1970 onwards and the associated government responses”. Our pre-existing analysis of housing market downturns has always been available here, though I do need to update it for the latest one.
REPORT: HBF & HFS published competition law industry guidance
The publication follows the CMA investigation into the sharing of competitively sensitive information. The guidance provides some insight into might have been shared and I suspect we’ll see some industry pressure on the Land Registry in the future due to their delays in registering new build homes and making the pricing data publicly available.
REPORT: Centre for Cities published Cities Outlook 2026
This year’s report “considers the variation and performance of disposable incomes and deprivation across the country, and the national and local considerations needed to meet the Government’s economic mission to raising living standards, ‘everywhere, felt by everyone’”.
REPORT: JRF published UK Poverty 2026 report
They report “progress on reducing poverty continued to flatline, continuing the trend which began just before the start of the financial crisis all the way back in 2005/06, with overall poverty being between 20% and 22% in every year since then”.
REPORT: Shelter reported on “Homelessness in the Classroom”
They report “One in 78 schoolchildren in England is homeless in temporary accommodation” and they look “at the effects that being homeless has on their health, wellbeing, education and relationships, as seen through the eyes of their teachers”.
REPORT: GLA published London Plan annual monitoring report 2023/24
They report 33,989 net housing completions in 2023/24, down 8.7% on the previous year.
REPORT: London Assembly on the Mayor’s Affordable Homes Programme
“The report warns that London’s affordable housing system is failing to keep pace with need, despite public investment through the Mayor’s Affordable Homes Programme. Delivery under the current programme has been slow, with 64 per cent of homes still to be started as of September 2025, less than a year before the programme is due to end in March 2026.”
REPORT: BPF and Savills reported on the build-to-rent market in Q4 2025
They report that “between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025, the sector grew by 5% in London and 2% in regional BTR markets” but “The number of units under construction has fallen sharply across the country, albeit more sharply in London (-32%) than in the regions (-7%)”.
REPORT: Lichfields reported on co-living development in London
They report “Twenty-six major co-living applications have been submitted in 2025, totalling over 10,000 co-living homes” and “Schemes vary in size from c.100 to over 800 units”.
REPORT: Savills reported on the residential development land market
They report “Notable disruption in the tail end of the year has driven falls across both greenfield and brownfield land values” as “Greenfield values fell by an average of -1.4% in 2025” and “Urban land values saw even greater adjustments over the course of the year, with Q4 falls of -1.7% bringing the annual change to -4.5%”.
REPORT: CPRE reported on SHMAs in rural areas
It aims “to assess the identified need for social housing in rural England and make the case for meeting this need to be prioritised within the new government’s planning policies”.
REPORT: Create Streets reported on building Georgian terraced housing
They “explain how government makes Georgian style terraced houses hard to build”.
CORPORATE: LSL published Pre-Close Trading Update
They report “2026 has seen a positive start to trading, with the refinancing tailwind seen in the second half of 2025 continuing into the new year, supporting both our Financial Services and S&V divisions. There has been evidence that residential property transactions in Prime and Outer Prime London are subdued but LSL’s EAF Division has limited exposure to these markets and continues to see an improving transaction pipeline.”
CORPORATE: Henry Boot published Trading Statement
They report “Across our markets, transaction volumes remain subdued, with deals taking longer to complete, particularly in the second half of the year in the run up to November’s budget” and “House prices and land values across the UK were broadly flat in 2025”.
CORPORATE: Property Franchise Group published FY25 Trading Update
They report “TPFG has started 2026 with a strong sales pipeline within the franchising business of £33.0m (2024: £33.4m), significant given the 2024 comparative included the impending stamp duty change effect”.
CORPORATE: Crest Nicholson published Final Results
They report “Trading conditions at the start of the 2026 financial year mirror the subdued conditions seen in H2 2025, reflecting ongoing consumer caution and the absence of demand side stimulus following the Budget. However, since Boxing Day, forward indicators, including website visits, enquiries and appointment conversion, show early signs of improving activity levels. January sales rates have strengthened, supported by improving customer engagement as interest rates gradually ease, affordability improves and our enhanced customer proposition gains traction.”