Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 19, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUK home asking prices rose by just 0.6% this spring, the smallest increase since 2016, with average prices hitting £380,000. Demand fell after tax breaks ended.
LONDON (Reuters) -Asking prices for homes put up for sale in Britain have risen by the least for the late spring period since 2016, according to data published on Monday that added to signs of a slowdown in the country's housing market after a tax break ended in April.
The average price for houses and apartments advertised between April 6 and May 10 rose by 0.6% from a month earlier and prices were up by 1.2% from the same period last year, property website Rightmove said.
The price increase pushed the average price to a new record high of just under 380,000 pounds ($505,000). But it represented the slowest monthly rise for the time of year in nine years.
These relatively subdued price increases - which are well below the pace of average wage growth and consumer price inflation over the past year - contributed to a 5% annual rise in completed sales for the latest period, Rightmove said.
The price weakness reflected the highest number of homes for sale in a decade, while demand in April was down 4% compared with April 2024, hit by the end of the tax incentive for purchases of cheaper homes and for first-time buyers on April 1.
The year-on-year fall in demand was the first so far in 2025. But there were signs that April's lull would prove temporary as interest among buyers picked up in early May.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has previously said Britain's housing market slowed in April after the end of the tax break which pushed up demand earlier in 2025.
($1 = 0.7524 pounds)
(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by David Milliken)
The article discusses the minimal rise in UK home asking prices this spring, marking the slowest increase since 2016.
Demand fell due to the end of tax incentives for home purchases, affecting first-time buyers and cheaper homes.
Despite the April lull, interest in home buying picked up in early May, suggesting a potential rebound.
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