Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by Property Industry Eye. Read the original article for full details.
Listings Up, Sales Down: The Week 36 Picture
A weekly analysis of the UK property market by Chris Watkin, published by Property Industry Eye, suggests the headlines only tell part of the story, and that the underlying numbers hold some home truths for agents.
In Week 36, 36.7k new listings came to market, up from 31.7k the previous week and above both the 2026 weekly average of 36k and the ten-year Week 36 average of 35k. Year to date, 1.299m new listings have been recorded — 0.5% below 2025 YTD (1.306m), but 2.6% ahead of 2024 and 10.2% ahead of 2023, and standing 9.7% above the 2017–19 average YTD. The last decade average is 1.190m YTD.
Sales Agreed and Net Sales
Gross residential sales stood at 23k homes sold subject to contract in Week 36, compared with 18.7k the previous week, which was affected by the Bank Holiday. That remains below the ten-year Week 36 average of 24.5k and the 2026 weekly average of 24.3k. Year to date, 874k UK homes have sold stc — 7.3% lower than 2025 YTD (943k) and 1.6% lower than 2024, though 11% higher than 2023 and 5.3% above the pre-Covid 2017–19 years (830k). The last decade average is 880k YTD.
Net sales, meaning gross sales minus fall-throughs, reached 17.7k in Week 36, against 13.5k the week before. YTD net sales total 676k: 6.1% lower than 2025 (720k) and 1.2% lower than 2024, but 14.1% ahead of 2023 and 3.4% above the 2017–19 average (654k).
Exchanges, Withdrawals and Price Reductions
In August 2026 there were 77.1k exchanges and 63.2k withdrawals. Just 55% of homes that left agents' books that month exchanged and completed, while 45% were withdrawn unsold — against a seven-year average exchange-to-listings ratio of 57.6%.
On pricing, 28.1k reductions were recorded in Week 36 across 742k UK homes for sale. Some 11.1% of homes for sale were reduced in August, down from 13.7% in July, with the 2026 YTD average at 12.8% versus a six-year long-term average of 10.9%.
The Asking Price Gap
One of the most striking findings: in Week 36 there was a 29.2% difference between the average asking price of listings (£456k) and the average asking price of homes that went sold stc (£353k) — far above the long-term ten-year average of 16% to 17%. The sell-through rate data showed 13.3% of homes on agents' books went sold.
The report also examines the Weymouth market, analysing which local estate and letting agents give homeowners the strongest chance of moving and achieve better prices — an approach the author suggests agents elsewhere could use to prove their own value.
Source: Property Industry Eye