Knight Frank has halved its 2026 house price growth forecast to 1.5%, down from 3.0% previously. The revision is attributed to higher mortgage rates following the geopolitical volatility earlier this year, weaker buyer sentiment, and ongoing uncertainty about the base rate path. This follows the Nationwide data showing 2.2% annual growth to March. The direction of travel in these forecasts has been consistently downward since the start of the year.
Saw this earlier and honestly not surprised. The place i’ve had my offer accepted on was originally listed at 450k in January before dropping to 425k, and they accepted 415k. Agents round here are still pricing like it’s 2021 and then acting shocked when nothing moves for eight weeks. Maybe forecasts like this will make a few more vendors get realistic, but i won’t hold my breath tbh.