The fall comes as buyers contend with higher mortgage rates, affordability constraints and wider economic pressures. At the same time, landlords are taking advantage of weaker conditions by making offers well below asking prices, with a growing proportion of sellers prepared to accept them.
London Sellers Cut Prices as Supply Reaches a 16-Year High
According to Rightmove, the average asking price for a newly listed property in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea fell from £1,648,148 a month ago to £1,552,970, a decline of just over £95,000.
Across Britain, average newly listed asking prices dropped by 2% over the past month. That represented a £7,360 reduction and marked the largest August fall recorded by Rightmove in eight years.
London experienced a considerably steeper monthly decline. Asking prices for newly listed homes in the capital fell by 4.4%, equivalent to almost £30,000 on average. Rightmove said the number of homes available for sale in London was at its highest level for 16 years, leaving sellers facing stronger competition for buyers.
Colleen Babcock, a property expert at Rightmove, said the larger-than-usual August fall showed that many sellers were “recognising the reality of the market and pricing much more competitively from day one”.
Other indicators have pointed in a similar direction. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said the UK housing market “remained subdued” in July. Lloyds reported that house prices were broadly stagnant during the month, while Nationwide recorded a rise of only 0.1%.
The pressure has been particularly visible in a market where prospective buyers are already dealing with stretched affordability. Higher mortgage rates and economic pressure linked to conflict in the Middle East were among the factors cited by Lloyds as weighing on demand.
Landlords Make Deeper Offers as Sellers Become More Willing to Negotiate
Investor buyers have also been using softer market conditions to secure larger discounts. According to Hamptons, landlords accounted for 14.1% of all home purchases in Great Britain in July, compared with a year-to-date average of 12.4%.
The estate agency said landlord buyers paid an average of just 88.7% of the original asking price during the month. More than half of their offers, 56%, were at least 10% below the seller’s initial asking price, the highest proportion since April 2020.
Sellers have also become more willing to accept such bids. Hamptons found that 27% of investor offers made at least 10% below asking price were accepted in July, up from 18% in July 2025. The pattern was more pronounced for leasehold properties. According to Hamptons, 41% of these heavily discounted investor offers on leasehold homes were accepted during July.
Flats have faced particular difficulty. Some owners have struggled to find buyers even after reducing prices, with concerns around the leasehold system frequently cited as a factor. Analysis by Zoopla found that, across most of England, the majority of leasehold flats listed for sale in 2025 had still not sold within six months. The figures underline a market in which sellers, especially in London and the leasehold sector, are increasingly adjusting expectations as buyers gain more negotiating power.
