Jul 17, 2026 ยท 8 min ยท 7 segments
The Lincoln property market is moving, but home sellers are now competing against far more homes than they were a few years ago. In Q2, buyers still wanted to buy in Lincoln (and bought many homes)โฆ
Far too often in the last few years, national newspaper and social media headlines have focused on doom and gloom, creating the impression that the housing market is on the verge of collapse.
Yet when you look beyond the headlines and examine the actual data, a rather different picture emerges.
We're going to compare Q2 2026 against Q2 2025 and Q2 2023.
Why? Well, 2025 was deemed to be a good post-pandemic market, and 2023 was a tough post-pandemic market.
Firstly, national homes for sale.
One of the ways to assess the health of the British property market is to look at the number of new properties coming onto the market.
In the second quarter of 2026, April, May and June, 488,933 properties were listed for sale across the UK.
Interesting when compared to the 484,974 in Q2 2025 and 411,927 in Q2 2023.
The average asking price of a UK property coming onto the market in Q2 2026 was ยฃ447,000, compared with ยฃ449,000 in Q2 2025 and ยฃ436,000 in Q2 2023, so not a big change either.
The level of new instructions and listings entering the property market is an important barometer of market health.
Yet during the financial crisis of 2008, the number of homes coming onto the market surged tremendously, tsunami-like, creating a significant imbalance between supply and demand and contributing to falling house prices.
Therefore, whilst monitoring the volume of new listings is an important indication of market conditions, one also needs to measure the number of homes available for sale and the number of homes being sold subject to contract.
Next, national homes on the market and the number of homes sold.
The average number of homes for sale in the UK in Q2 2026 was 746,300. very similar to 743,100 in Q2 2025, yet much higher than the levels seen in Q2 2023, when 605,500 UK homes were for sale.
For context, it was 1.3 million in Q2 2008.
Now let us look at the demand.
In Q2 2026, 311,678 homes sold subject to contract across the UK for an average price of ยฃ369,256.
In Q2 2025, the number of homes sold subject to contract was slightly higher, 4.9%, at 327,023. albeit with a very similar average sale price of ยฃ366,785.
Yet when we look at Q2 2023, only 283,817 homes were sold subject to contract, again with a very similar average sale price of ยฃ365,111.
So, on the face of it, Q2 2026 has been better than Q2 2023 for the number of homes sold subject to contract, until one realises that even though there has been a 9.82% increase in UK house sales between Q220-23 and Q220-26, the number of homes for sale has increased by 23.3% over the same timeframe.
The UK property market is still active and buyers are still buying, but there is a big catch.
A smaller proportion of the available properties are finding a buyer.
That means sellers are facing much greater competition, and simply coming onto the market is no guarantee of a sale.
In this sort of market, realistic pricing is not merely helpful.
It is everything.
Far too often in the last few years, national newspaper and social media headlines have focused on doom and gloom, creating the impression that the housing market is on the verge of collapse.
Yet when you look beyond the headlines and examine the actual data, a rather different picture emerges.
We're going to compare Q2 2026 against Q2 2025 and Q2 2023.
Why? Well, 2025 was deemed to be a good post-pandemic market, and 2023 was a tough post-pandemic market.
Firstly, national homes for sale.
One of the ways to assess the health of the British property market is to look at the number of new properties coming onto the market.
In the second quarter of 2026, April, May and June, 488,933 properties were listed for sale across the UK.
Interesting when compared to the 484,974 in Q2 2025 and 411,927 in Q2 2023.
The average asking price of a UK property coming onto the market in Q2 2026 was ยฃ447,000, compared with ยฃ449,000 in Q2 2025 and ยฃ436,000 in Q2 2023, so not a big change either.
The level of new instructions and listings entering the property market is an important barometer of market health.
Yet during the financial crisis of 2008, the number of homes coming onto the market surged tremendously, tsunami-like, creating a significant imbalance between supply and demand and contributing to falling house prices.
Therefore, whilst monitoring the volume of new listings is an important indication of market conditions, one also needs to measure the number of homes available for sale and the number of homes being sold subject to contract.
Next, national homes on the market and the number of homes sold.
The average number of homes for sale in the UK in Q2 2026 was 746,300. very similar to 743,100 in Q2 2025, yet much higher than the levels seen in Q2 2023, when 605,500 UK homes were for sale.
For context, it was 1.3 million in Q2 2008.
Now let us look at the demand.
In Q2 2026, 311,678 homes sold subject to contract across the UK for an average price of ยฃ369,256.
In Q2 2025, the number of homes sold subject to contract was slightly higher, 4.9%, at 327,023. albeit with a very similar average sale price of ยฃ366,785.
Yet when we look at Q2 2023, only 283,817 homes were sold subject to contract, again with a very similar average sale price of ยฃ365,111.
So, on the face of it, Q2 2026 has been better than Q2 2023 for the number of homes sold subject to contract, until one realises that even though there has been a 9.82% increase in UK house sales between Q220-23 and Q220-26, the number of homes for sale has increased by 23.3% over the same timeframe.
The UK property market is still active and buyers are still buying, but there is a big catch.
A smaller proportion of the available properties are finding a buyer.
That means sellers are facing much greater competition, and simply coming onto the market is no guarantee of a sale.
In this sort of market, realistic pricing is not merely helpful.
It is everything.
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