Whether you have heard it said directly, or just gleaned it from general commentary, you’ll no doubt have the sense that it’s been a tough year for the Herne Hill property market.
Cost-of-living pressures, global uncertainty fuelled by geopolitical events, a change of Prime Minister, and a prolonged summer heatwave have added up to a slower-than-usual few months.
And let’s admit it as estate agents: it has been a particularly challenging period.
Transaction numbers offer a clear indicator. Since December 2025, transaction numbers have consistently been lower than a year earlier. December’s sales figures were 9% lower than December 2024, January 2026 was 14% below January 2025, February 2026 was 19% lower than February 2025. March 2026 then came in at 36% lower than in March 2025.
But March 2025 was a peculiar month.
In fact, the whole of the first quarter of 2025 was peculiar for the same reason – a stamp duty holiday coming to an end on the last day of that month.
And since March this year, transaction numbers have been slowly recovering: April 2026 was 29% lower than the previous year, May was 22% lower. We have not yet seen land registry data to tell us how June, July and August 2026 compare – but anecdotally we can say the numbers seem positive.
What we are seeing is a market responding, with buyers registering in greater numbers and becoming much more active in viewings.
In fact, transactions reached their lowest ebb in March this year, with just 5 sales lodged on land registry that month; then 10 in April, then 13 in May.
So we can see the market improving.
We can also identify one significant factor that contributed to that hesitation in March: the escalation of conflict in Iran. Uncertainty was high, mortgage rates spiked, and a significant number of movers paused their plans.
That market logjam looks to be clearing, with listing numbers increasing month by month since then.
There are 245 properties currently listed for sale locally, around 10% more than this time last year. It means our local Herne Hill market is in a good position to take advantage of the normally busy autumn market.
And that is a market which may be about to hear its starting gun fire.
More Than Just a Long Weekend
The August Bank Holiday tends to be more than simply an extra day off work and a nice long weekend.
It signals the near end of the school summer holidays – a reminder that life is about to return to a bit of normality, especially this year after what has been an extraordinarily sunny summer.
It is also a subtle nudge for anyone who harboured hopes of moving home this year: time is running out. We’ve got fewer than four months until Christmas!
But for anyone who does still wish to move home in 2026, that’s not a reason to panic. The average time on market before agreeing a sale on a property here in Herne Hill currently sits at just 41 days – less than half the time it was taking the market in August 2025.
If you were putting your property on the market over this Bank Holiday weekend, that would see your sold board going up, on average, around 11 October, still with two and a half months to hope to get the legal work through by Christmas if that were your goal – and after three decades in this game, I know that for many people, it is.
Why September So Often Delivers
Bank Holiday weekends provide many people a brief moment of respite from their busy lives. An opportunity to rest and to reset.
The August Bank Holiday in particular, coming as it does two-thirds of the way through another year, can act as a moment of reflection. It is a moment in time when online browsing begins to seriously spike. An inflection point.
It might start as a bit of idle scrolling from the comfort of the sofa, picturing what next year could look like… but that can escalate to registering, enquiring for details, and then booking viewings born from a curiosity which, now unfettered, feels more like a mission by the time that idle browser gets to the end of next week.
Realistically, September has traditionally been one of the busiest months in the property calendar as a result – not only in terms of new listing activity, but also in terms of buyer registration, viewing numbers and sales being agreed.
That pattern is evident year after year, and we do expect to see plenty of new properties hit the market across South London over the course of both September and October.
The Numbers that Matter
Right now, as mentioned already, there are 245 properties on the market locally, and if history tells us anything, that number is about to swell. Average mortgage rates have risen, standing a little higher than they were a month or two ago, but there are still competitive deals out there – especially once buyers are armed with 20% deposits or better.
This all looks like a very functional market – especially when combined with clear signs of pent-up demand from buyers who have been waiting for the right moment to get on with their move.
If you’ve been thinking about selling this year, perhaps this Bank Holiday weekend will also feel like a natural moment to start that conversation again. Getting your home on the market now means catching the September and October wave rather than watching it from the sidelines.
If you would like to talk through your options for selling your Herne Hill home in an unpressurised way, get in touch with us today.