The 5 facts hitting the housing market hardest in the last 7 days.
Stop Press!
Live Budget Watchalong with Housing Stig, Wednesday 28th October at 12.30pm. Details to follow.
Remember: If you’ve recently rented, bought or sold a home, please report your price to the BestAgent Public House Price Index.
5FF 23rd October 2026
1. Inflation Up, rates up, house prices down
CPI rose to 3.5% in September, up from 3.1%, its highest in a year and higher than forecast, meaning upward pressure on bank rates, then mortgage rates.
2. Gov Borrowing Too Much – record for Sept
The government borrowed £24.5bn in September, £1.9bn more than forecast, and debt passed £3 trillion for the first time. This will likely cause gilt yields to stay high or rise further, pushing mortgage rates up.
Source: https://x.com/moving_charlie/status/2112827565778112721?s=20
3. No job, no home of your own (unless you become a state dependent).
Job vacancies in Sept fell 21,000 to 691,000, down 5.1% on the year, with unemployment at 4.7%. The future keeps getting bleaker and bleaker for the young. (And Barclays announces 5,000 jobs to be replaced by AI).
4. House Price cuts
41% of homes for sale in England have had a price reduction. Two in five sellers have already taken the public embarrassment of a price cut. The rest are still waiting for 2022 to come back. Even cutting prices isn't helping to keep transactions up though.
5. Mortgage deals dying in under 2 weeks in the repricing mayhem
the average deal now lasts 13 days before it's pulled or repriced, against 43 days in 2019. This means it's almost impossible for buyers to bid with confidence, and repricing mid-deals will be causing multiple deal failures.
Source: https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/news/mortgages/mortgage-deals-available-for-just-13-days/
Bonus
FTB’s now paying more in mortgage than rent – and that’s before maintenance costs.
Source: https://propertysoup.co.uk/most-first-time-buyers-now-pay-more-than-they-did-in-rent/
My quotes in the media this week
The Intermediary — BestAgent to reward estate agents for faster home moves, 22 Oct
“This isn't a Club that agents can simply pay to join.”
This week’s livestreams
Housing market in 'Limp Mode', listings backing up into a jam. Last week’s 5FF. — Fri 16 Oct
Rightmove's u-turn on House Prices is too late. — Mon 19 Oct
One week until the budget: Live Q&A: Ask Me Anything — Wed 21 Oct
Most-viewed this week
X: Now that's what I call overpaying. Credit, they launched it at -£300k less than paid, and knocked another £100k off since then, finally under offer. They met the market. Not typical, but I very much doubt they expected this to happen when they paid it. Caveat emptor! (72,180 views)
TikTok: Busiest month for price reductions since 2011. (1,235 views)
Instagram: Nearly 100,000 asking prices trying to meet the market in September. (4,985 views)
Get 5 Fact Friday in your inbox every week
The five facts hitting the UK housing market hardest, every Friday.
Form not showing? Subscribe here