Market Update: What Actually Moved in August 2026

A straight snapshot of what's actually happening in lettings and sales right now — sourced, not guessed. This is the first in an ongoing series; expect these whenever there's something genuinely worth flagging, not on a fixed schedule for its own sake.

Void periods are genuinely improving

The average rental void across England has fallen to roughly 21 days, down from 24 days back in May, shortly after the Renters' Rights Act came into force. The read from the data: landlords are becoming more organised and professional as they adjust to the new rules — better marketing, more realistic pricing, and properties prepared before the outgoing tenant has even left.

London rents just had their strongest month nationally

Average London rents rose from £2,385 to £2,484 in a single month — up 4.2%, the strongest monthly increase of any UK region. That pushes the representative salary needed to comfortably afford the average London rental up to £74,520, a 6.4% increase year-on-year.

The detail worth knowing if you're in Prime Central London

More than 20% of Prime Central London properties in 2026 sit entirely outside the Renters' Rights Act, because their annual rent exceeds £100,000 — roughly £8,333 a month. That's a genuinely underdiscussed detail: a meaningful slice of the prime market operates under different rules to everywhere else, and it's part of why rental growth in PCL has accelerated even faster than London as a whole since the Act's May start date.

The national context

Average UK private rent reached £1,393 in the year to July — up 3.7%, and that annual growth rate is itself accelerating, up from 3.3% the month before.

Meanwhile, the sales market is softening

A different picture on the sales side. New buyer enquiries registered a net balance of -28% for the second month running, with agreed sales down -30%. Supply of homes for sale reached close to a 12-year high for July, giving buyers real room to negotiate — and it's showing: roughly 30% of homes listed since Q2 remain unsold without a price reduction. Forecasters have been cutting expectations rather than raising them; one revised its 2026 growth forecast down from 3% to just 1%, and another is now forecasting a small price drop this year.

What this actually means for you

Lettings demand remains genuinely strong, particularly in London and particularly at the prime end — but pricing still has to be realistic, since even in a strong market roughly a third of overpriced sales listings are sitting unsold. The lesson from the sales side applies to lettings too: a fair, well-researched figure from day one beats an aspirational one that needs correcting three weeks in.