Confidence is returning to London’s property market, according to the latest sales data from residential property specialist Chestertons.
Buyer enquiries are improving YoY, more homeowners are coming to market, and wider economic indicators suggest growing optimism among consumers and businesses.
Buyer enquiries through the agency’s sales portal in August – often the first stage of a homebuyer’s journey – recorded their strongest performance in ten months.
At the same time, vendor instructions increased by 14% year-on-year, signalling growing confidence among sellers and bringing more homes to market ahead of the autumn selling season.
With more than 35 offices working as one network, Chestertons combines street-by-street expertise with London-wide access to active buyers, creating more opportunities for sellers across the capital.
Third-party data from TwentyEA shows that Chestertons significantly outperformed the wider market in its operating postcodes. In August, new instructions to Chestertons increased by 63.9% year-on-year, while the market declined by 9%.
Across the past year, new instructions in these postcodes increased by 3.5% across the wider market, compared with growth of 11.4% at Chestertons.
Chestertons also recorded a 7.8% month-on-month increase in sales agreed, while the wider market across its target postcodes declined by 18.1%.
The housing market appears to have been buoyed by the so-called ‘Burnham bounce’.
A few weeks into Andy Burnham’s premiership, the transition between prime ministers has been relatively smooth, without the backbench dissent that disrupted Sir Keir Starmer’s administration.
More importantly for the property market, there has so far been far less media speculation about possible tax changes ahead of Chancellor John Healey’s Budget on 28 October than in the run-up to the November 2025 Budget.
In his first major speech as Chancellor on 7 September, Healey sought to reassure financial markets and the banks by pledging to balance the books and control public spending.
“There is a need to bring down welfare costs. And most importantly for me we have to get more of Britain working again,” he declared. The Chancellor also identified economic growth as his central priority and said the Government would work to ease the burden on businesses.
A similar trajectory can be seen in two benchmark indicators of consumer and business sentiment, both of which have an important bearing on the wider housing market.
The UK GfK Consumer Confidence Index rose from -17 in July to -14 in August 2026. Although still negative, this was its highest level in two years.
Consumers became more optimistic about the economy and their personal finances over the next 12 months, while more households viewed the current period as a good time to make major purchases.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Industry’s UK Business Confidence Survey improved to -36 points in the third quarter of 2026, up from -65 points in the second quarter.
The cost of government borrowing remains a headwind for lenders setting mortgage rates. However, commentators suggest that if the Chancellor demonstrates fiscal discipline in his first Budget, some of the pressure could ease in the bond markets.
Adam Jennings, Head of Residential at Chestertons, said: “Months of rumours about potential tax changes, many of them related to property, impacted activity levels in the housing market last year, particularly in the capital.
“After a challenging few months in London’s property market, greater clarity around the economic outlook is helping to support confidence among buyers and sellers.
“Combined with improving consumer sentiment and the renewed activity we are seeing across our London network, there are reasons to be optimistic about the market's trajectory in the months ahead.”