Is now a good time to sell a house?

The summer months can be a good time to sell a property as the longer days can attract more keen viewers, but demand is being dampened by higher purchase costs.

Stamp duty thresholds dropped at the start of April, pushing up moving costs.

This has prompted some property experts to warn of a house price slowdown.

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Sellers are being urged to be realistic about asking prices, especially as supply levels remain high.

This could make it more difficult to sell a house, especially if you have a particular price in mind.

What’s happening with house prices?

House price indices paint a poor picture for the property market if you want to sell your home.

Average house prices were static in June and annual price inflation slowed from 2.6% to 2.5%, according to the latest Halifax House Price Index.

Nationwide’s rival index shows UK house prices fell by 0.8% in June, the biggest monthly decline since February 2023, while annual growth slowed from 3.5% to 2.1% between May and June.

It comes as buyers are contending with higher stamp duty costs, while a glut of supply is also putting pressure on prices.

Separate data from Zoopla shows the supply of homes for sale is 6% higher than a year ago and 22% of all homes on the market have been up for sale for over six months.

This suggests there is a disconnect between what sellers and estate agents are willing to sell for and what buyers will and can afford to pay.

However, June’s sentiment survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) suggests a recovery could be on the way.

Its latest UK Residential Market Survey for June 2025 shows buyer demand has come out of negative territory for the first time this year.

RICS members were negative about house price growth for the next three months but the 12 month outlook looks better with 24% of survey participants anticipating price increases.

A clearer picture should emerge over time as we accumulate more datapoints. For now, the stamp duty changes are too recent to extract any decisive trend.

HM Land Registry’s house price index – which is the most authoritative source – could also shed further light on the topic. This is published with a two-month time lag.

Its latest report shows the early impact of the stamp duty changes, with house price growth halving annually in April to 3.5%.

The good news is that house prices are expected to end the year in positive territory, according to most experts.

Estate agent Savills expects the average UK property to end the year 4% higher, while real estate consultancy Knight Frank is forecasting 3.5%, having recently revised this projection upwards thanks to the improving interest rate landscape.

There will of course be regional variations, with prices currently rising more rapidly in the north where affordability is less stretched.

Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, said: “Demand is recovering after the March stamp duty deadline meant transactions were pulled forward into the first quarter of the year.

“However, as buyers return, they have a lot of stock to choose from, which is putting downward pressure on prices. Rate cut expectations have grown over the last six weeks due to weak UK economic data, which should support demand over the second half of the year and produce modest single-digit price growth in 2025. A re-run of last year’s game of ‘guess the tax rise’ ahead of the Budget is the biggest risk for sentiment.”

Is now a good time to sell a house?

The answer to this question depends on your personal circumstances as well as the state of the property market. You might need to move for work, or could require a larger house for a growing family. In cases like these, timing the market perfectly isn’t always practical.

Even if the current market is skewed slightly in favour of buyers, there are steps sellers can take to make their home more sellable.

“Our research shows that getting the price right the first time is key. Homes that don’t need a reduction in price are more likely to find a buyer, and to find that buyer in less than half the time,” said Colleen Babcock, property expert at listing site Rightmove.

Presenting your home in the most attractive light can also help it sell in periods when the market slows down.

“It may sound obvious, but clean up, declutter and make sure any obvious defects are put right before the photos are taken and viewers start coming round,” said Ben Hudson, managing director at Hudson Moody, an estate agent in York.

Other considerations include whether you are looking to buy a property at the same time as you are selling your existing home – and how much that new property costs.

Mortgage rates are on a downward trajectory and are expected to fall further over the course of this year, but remain high compared to their long-term average. This might prove off-putting to those weighing up whether to take on more debt to upsize.

Even if rates are lower, Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, says buyers remain “price-sensitive,” especially in higher-value markets.

He warns that “serious sellers need to be realistic on where they set their asking price in order to achieve a sale and secure a home move in 2025”.

That said, house prices often rise as interest rates fall, so waiting until mortgage rates are lower could mean you end up having to offer a higher asking price when you do ultimately move further down the line.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, explains: “If you’re selling and buying at the same time, you can trade the loss of a premium on your property for being able to drive a harder bargain where you’re moving. The exception to this is for those who are downsizing.”

The best time to downsize is generally when property prices are on the rise. If both the home you are selling and the property you are buying have increased in value by, say, 5%, you will make a bigger profit overall as the property you are selling is worth more.

For those who are stepping up and buying a more expensive home, rising property prices make the transaction more expensive.

It is worth pointing out that house prices perform very differently in different parts of the UK, so you may find that prices have not changed in the same way in both your local area and where you would like to move to.

If you are thinking of selling, you will also have to consider the costs involved. This can include estate agent fees, legal fees, stamp duty, and capital gains tax in the case of second homes. If you are selling because you would like to free up some money, you should weigh up whether it is still worth it after the costs.