OUT NOW: MAY/JUNE ’26 ISSUE #180
News and insights from the movers and storers industry
UK property market performing “steadily”
26th May 2026
Editorial Team
3 mins read
Features
Drawing from a comprehensive dataset, TwentyCi, a leading provider of data-driven marketing solutions for the removals and storage sector, gives an update on the property and home moving market.
How heavy is the conflict in the Middle East weighing on the UK property market? So far in 2026, the impact is not significant. The property market is ticking along steadily, with a strong appetite from the public to move. For SSTCs and transaction levels during Q1 2026, it is challenging to make a direct comparison with Q1 2025 due to the Stamp Duty holiday that significantly inflated figures this time last year – so we must consider how these metrics measure up against 2023 and 2024 for a fairer comparison.
Key Q1 2026 data points
- Instructions: The number of properties brought to market in Q1 is up by 5% compared to Q1 2025. Supply has risen year-to-date in 2026 across all UK regions, with the exception of Northern Ireland and Wales, both observing only a marginal 1% decline.
- Sale agreed: Demand in 2026 is -3.3% lower than 2025; however, it is higher than both 2023 (+17.2%) and 2024 (+3.8%). Consistently this year, there has also been an increase when comparing month-on-month performance.
- Sales agreed by region: Scotland experienced an increase in demand. Meanwhile, Inner and Outer London saw the largest declines, followed by the North West. Manchester observed the biggest decrease, but Edinburgh, Plymouth and Southampton bucked the trend and saw a rise in sales agreed.
- Transactions: Whilst transactions for Q1 are 3.9% lower than in 2025, the market is up 10.7% compared to Q1 2023 and 19.2% compared to Q1 2024. Transactions are trending upwards as we move forward into the year, comparing month-on-month.
- Fall throughs: Fall-through volumes decreased substantially year on year by -12.1%, reflected across all price bands. Approximately 38% of all fallen throughs occur within the first four weeks of a sale being agreed – a great opportunity for storage businesses to tap into helping those who were preparing to move adapt to their change of plans.
- Rental: Q1 2026 saw the supply of properties to let rise by 57,700 in the last year – 18.8% higher than in 2025 and at its highest point in the last six years. UK let agreed volumes are 5.8% higher than in 2025, with demand strongest in Wales.
Change in mover demographic
The demographic of the mover has altered. A “midlife independence shift” has meant single, 50–59-year-olds are now the fastest growing group in the UK housing market. The modal age of owner-occupier movers has changed from 30-39 in 2016 to 50-59 today. The proportion of single owner-occupied homemovers has increased by 15.6% over the last 10 years, while married movers fell 22.6%.
Within the 50–59 age group, single home-movers purchase homes averaging £289,600, compared with £427,200 for married couples. This substantial price gap suggests extensive purposeful downsizing. The opportunity for storage companies is to support people who are downsizing and still want to keep belongings they no longer have space for.
What next?
In general, the data suggests that the conflict in the Middle East is not having a big impact on the property market at this stage. However, the outlook remains uncertain, with some negative indicators including mortgage pricing volatility, fixed rates moving back above the 5% mark, inflation threats and rising energy costs. New buyer enquiries also fell sharply in March. Rather than a frozen market, a slower transactions environment is more likely, and TwentyCi remains confident that around 1.2 million transactions will be seen by year-end.
