12th January 2026
With the uncertainty of last year now behind us and tax changes announced, the UK housing market looks set to improve in 2026. Interest rates are reducing and mortgage rates easing, affordability is improving and confidence is growing - and as a result we're seeing more buyers and sellers making new plans for making the move in 2026.
Colleen Babcock, Rightmove’s property expert, reinforces this opinion: “I think 2026 will be a mix of some key property market themes continuing, and other new trends emerging. We expect many of those who put their moving plans on hold over the last few months will pick them back up again in the new year, now the Budget is out the way.”
Make yourself proceedable: Many estate agents won’t take you seriously if you’re not proceedable, so make yourself an attractive buyer. If you have property to sell to enable your move, make sure that your property is on the market when you start contacting agents. If you're ready to get your house on the market, why delay - the sooner you are under offer, the sooner you become a proceedable and much stronger buyer.
Make sure you have a clear idea of your budget: Talk to your financial adviser / mortgage broker to ensure you are clear on your borrowing capacity. Ensure that you have taken stamp duty and other costs into consideration. Knowing your absolute maximum budget is particularly important as you’ll need to know exactly what level you can offer at to get your perfect house.
Narrow down your search area: Identify the areas you would like to move to and rule out any that are less desirable, too far from transport links/facilities/schools. It may sound obvious, but this will help save time viewing properties that just aren't going to work for you and your lifestyle.
Clear out your diary and be prepared to move quickly: If the market picks up with any speed, we may see a rise in "launch days" - where agents can schedule around 30 viewings for a property in one day with the hope that this generates multiple offers and interested parties will often be asked to have offers in within 48 hours. If multiple offers are received, the agent is likely to recommend that the vendor goes to ‘best and finals’. Should you be in this position, it is particularly important at this point that you have your maximum budget agreed and finances in place as you’ll need to move quickly and may need to compete against multiple other offers.
House-hunting is time-consuming and, if you are travelling from out of the area to view properties, the whole process of looking for a house and viewing can eat into work-time or take over quality family time. When searching from afar, what started out as a simple scroll of the search portals can easily lead to feeling exhausted and overwhelmed.
If you really want to get ahead of the game, you might consider a property finding agent. A property search agent will not only work on your behalf to find properties that match your specific criteria (often with knowledge of properties that are not currently on the market or are being marketed discreetly) but will also save you time by helping you to narrow your seach requirements and pre-viewing properties on your behalf, offering virtual viewings and video calls to ensure that you can see potential properties without having to attend each and every viewing. This works particularly well for clients moving from overseas or from out of the area, but also for those clients who are short of time or simply require expert local knowledge.
If you are looking to move to Surrey, please do call us on 01483 905160 or get in touch with Surrey HomeSearch - we'd be delighted to help make your dreams of the perfect home a reality!