The average asking price of a newly listed UK home fell by 1.0% in July, or £3,832, to £372,359, according to Rightmove’s House Price Index published on 20 July 2026.
Rightmove said a July decline is normal, but the latest fall was larger than the ten-year average drop of 0.2% for the month. The index tracks asking prices for newly marketed homes, so it is an early measure of seller expectations rather than completed sale prices.
The property portal said housing-market activity was 6% lower than a year earlier but level with the first half of 2024. The supply of homes for sale was close to a twelve-year high for this time of year, giving buyers more choice and increasing competition among sellers.
Rightmove linked the softer summer activity to several distractions, including hot weather, holidays and the World Cup. Its analysis recorded temporary drops in buyer demand of 8% during a May heatwave, 6% during a June heatwave and 4% during the current July heatwave. These figures support Rightmove’s interpretation, but they do not establish one single cause for the price movement.
The national average also does not mean every region or property segment moved in the same direction. The clearest takeaway is that new sellers reduced asking prices more than is usual for July while buyers had a wide choice of homes; it is not evidence by itself of a uniform fall in completed sale prices.
References
Rightmove — House Price Index, 20 July 2026 / Rightmove — July 2026 full report / Reuters — Heat and World Cup hurt UK property asking prices
