Bank Rate stayed at 3.75% last week, but the way the Monetary Policy Committee got there is the story. Three of the nine members voted to raise it. Add the first Nationwide reading of the second half of the year and a fresh set of transaction figures, and the shape of the autumn market is becoming clear. Here is what the first week of August told us, and what it means for anyone buying or selling in Norfolk and Suffolk.
The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75% on 30 July, but the vote was 6-3, with three members pushing for an increase to 4%. That is a shift from the 7-2 split at the previous meeting. Governor Andrew Bailey noted that inflation has fallen faster than the Bank expected, while the conflict in the Middle East continues to make energy prices high and volatile. The Bank was explicit that it stands ready to raise rates if that situation escalates.
For borrowers, the practical message is that the next move is genuinely two-sided for the first time in a while. Anyone waiting for a cut before committing is now taking a position, not simply being patient.
Nationwide’s July index put annual house price growth at 1.8%, down from 2.2% in June, with the average price at £277,542 after a 0.1% monthly rise. That monthly gain matters more than it looks: it follows two months of flat or falling prices, so July was the first month back in positive territory. Chief economist Robert Gardner described prices as broadly flat once seasonal factors are stripped out.
Transactions were the better news. HMRC’s provisional figures for June show 103,050 residential completions on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, 6% above June 2025 and 11% above May. On the seasonally adjusted measure the figure was 98,700, marginally up on May and 2% above last year. After two consecutive monthly falls, deal volumes have steadied.
Mortgage pricing is the pressure point. Moneyfacts put the average new fixed rate at 5.59% at the end of July, having risen through the month, and the average two-year fix has moved from 4.84% in March to 5.62% by 29 July. The squeeze is sharpest at higher loan to value: the average 90% LTV two-year fix has climbed from 5.09% in February to 5.74% in July, which adds roughly £77 a month to a £200,000 repayment mortgage over 25 years. That is why one in three first-time buyers is now looking at tracker or variable deals, where the average 90% LTV two-year tracker sat at 4.8% in July.
The best rates remain far better than the averages. The lowest widely available two-year fix for purchase is around 4.32%, with the lowest five-year fix near 4.38%. The gap between the headline average and what a good broker can actually secure has rarely been wider, and it is worth more than any negotiation on price.
County-level data continues to show Norfolk holding its ground. The most recent Construction Capital analysis puts the Norfolk median at £266,250 across 8,854 transactions in the trailing twelve months, a movement of just 1.9% year on year. Norwich sits at a £230,000 median across 1,557 sales, while at the other end of the scale North Norfolk coastal postcodes routinely trade at more than double the county figure.
That spread is the whole point. A single county average tells a Holt vendor almost nothing, and a national index tells them less. What matters is the depth of buyer demand within a few miles of the front door, and that varies enormously across our patch.
There is also a structural change worth noting. New Connells research shows that only 5% of sellers have owned their home for under three years, with short-term moves at their lowest level on record. Owners are staying put longer, which means that when a genuinely good house does come to market, the competition it faces is thinner than the raw stock figures suggest.
We maintain live Property Market Reports for 324 towns and villages across Norfolk and Suffolk, and they show a market that rewards precision. Across those 324 locations the average SSTC rate is 19%, average days on market is 459, and the average price is £387,148. Of those markets, 260 currently favour buyers, 48 are balanced, and 16 favour sellers.
The sellers’ markets cluster tightly around Norwich. Blofield Heath, Cringleford and Poringland all sit at 55% of stock under offer, with Blofield and Caistor St Edmund at 50%. Speed follows the same map: Hethersett is our fastest market at 127 days, followed by Lenwade at 169 days, Felthorpe and Thorpe St Andrew at 179 days, and Carlton Colville at 190 days.
At the other end, Baconsthorpe, Bacton, Blythburgh, Brancaster and Bungay all show 5% of stock under offer, and average times to sell in East Winch, Barnham Broom, Brockdish and Bunwell run past 1,000 days. Those are the places where the launch price does all the work, because a second chance takes years to arrive.
Zoopla expects a busier than usual return of buyers in September, having seen a sharper summer slowdown than normal with agreed sales running 9% below last year. Its own data shows that the share of homes cutting asking prices by 5% or more consistently peaks in September, in the same month activity recovers. In other words, the correction usually happens after the opportunity has passed.
The move to make now is to be correctly positioned before the autumn buyers arrive, not to react once they have already walked past. If your home has been on the market since spring, this fortnight is the window to reset the price, refresh the photography and rewrite the presentation so it lands as new in September rather than as old stock. Our own numbers are unambiguous on this: homes that go out right first move in months, and homes that go out optimistically move in years.
You are buying into a market where prices are broadly flat, completions have stabilised, and borrowing costs are the variable that moves. That combination favours decisiveness. If you find the right house, secure your rate rather than waiting to see whether the three hawks on the MPC become five.
Shop the whole rate market, not just the averages. With the best two-year fixes near 4.32% against a market average above 5.5%, the difference between an average deal and a sharp one is worth far more than most price negotiations. Trackers are also worth a serious look while they price about a percentage point below equivalent fixes, particularly if you expect to move or remortgage within a couple of years.
The Lloyds House Price Index for July lands around 7 August and will show whether June’s 0.2% rise, the first monthly increase in four months, was the start of something or a one-off. The RICS residential survey follows around 11 August, and after June’s improvement in sales expectations to a net balance of -16% from a March low of -34%, it is the best read on agent sentiment going into autumn. Rightmove’s August asking price index arrives around 20 August, with ONS June figures later in the month.
If you would like to know exactly where your own village sits, our 324 local market reports are free to read and updated continuously. And if you are weighing a September launch, the conversation to have is this month, not next. Call us on 01603 369977.
