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Summer is usually a popular time to sell your home – but in 2025, things aren’t quite following the usual pattern.
A spike in sales earlier this year, fuelled by stamp duty changes, and tweaks to mortgage affordability checks have shifted the pace. While activity is picking up again, some sellers are still unsure whether now’s the right time to list.
Here, Which? looks at what’s really happening in the market – and what you can do to boost your chances of a sale this summer.
HMRC transaction data shows that summer is among the busiest periods for house sales. In 2023, the summer months registered the highest number of house sales, outpacing every other season.
In 2024, it was the second busiest season, with sales far above winter and spring, but lagging behind autumn.
So far, 2025 has been shaped by April’s stamp duty threshold change.
March saw a surge in activity as buyers rushed to beat the deadline, with 165,660 property transactions recorded. But in April, transactions plummeted to 56,740
Since then, the market has begun to stabilise. In June 2025, HMRC recorded an estimated 93,530 transactions, just 1% higher than the same time last year.
Property website Zoopla attributes this modest increase to recent tweaks in lender affordability checks. Its latest house price index notes slightly more summer market activity than usual. But house prices remain flat month-on-month.
Rightmove’s Colleen Babcock explained why prices aren’t rising: 'The decade-high level of buyer choice means that discerning buyers can quickly spot when a home looks overpriced compared to many others available in their area. It appears that more new sellers are conscious of this and are responding to this high-supply market with standout pricing to entice buyers and get their home sold.'
So, while conditions may not be as favourable for sellers as in previous summers, setting a realistic asking price is still key to a successful sale.
We asked two leading estate agents to find out whether this year is different for sellers.
Helen Hammond, co-head of Savills Clapham said people look to the autumn or spring to begin their house moving process.
She said: 'Certainly for family houses, capturing the widest pool of potential buyers usually comes after the school summer holidays, and going online at that point is a wise move. However, certain sellers will be open to an off-market campaign to get people through the doors before then. And that has proven successful for some of our vendors who have achieved a strong price from an early off-market viewing in July or August. After all, it only takes that one buyer to decide it’s the home for them.'
Hammond added that the flat market is less affected by the school holidays, so while some sellers are holding off until autumn, others are choosing to list in summer.
'A house move is very dependent on individual circumstances, and that can mean putting your home up for sale at a time that suits you, which may be outside of traditional selling periods.'
Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank said: 'A more important consideration than timing this year is the fact that it's very much a buyer’s market due to high levels of supply, which is partly due to an overhang of stock following the stamp duty cliff edge in April.
'Asking prices should not therefore be too ambitious – properties can sit and go stale easily in this sort of market.
'Sellers should also be aware that demand is relatively fragile as the economy stutters and some businesses adopt the brace position ahead of the autumn budget. The normal seasonal patterns around summer holidays, the academic year and Christmas are still important, but sellers need to keep an eye on the business pages this year.'
Rates have fallen gradually since February, after the first base rate cut of 2025. A further two cuts to the base rate, in May and August, have put further downward pressure on rates.
As a result, the average rate for a two-year fixed rate mortgage is now 5.01% compared to 5.48% in January. While the average five-year fix is 5.01% compared to 5.25% at the start of the year.
If you have a loan-to-value (LTV) of 60% you can access the best deals, which are now as low as 3.74%. For those with higher LTVs, such as 85%, the best rate is 3.94%.
Unfortunately, the base rate cut in August won't see mortgage rates plummet. Instead they will continue to drop slowly.
David Hollingworth of L&C explains, 'It’s worth noting that the decision will have been factored in [to fixed rates] already, so borrowers expecting big drops to fixed deals could be disappointed.'
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