Something shifted in the property market this month, and it did not happen in Crawley. It happened in a committee room at the Bank of England, and it quietly changed the question everyone has been asking all year.
The Bank held rates, but look at how the vote went
On 17 September the Monetary Policy Committee kept the base rate at 3.75%, where it has sat all year. That was the expected outcome. What was not expected is the split. Three of the nine members voted to put rates up to 4%, and the reason is inflation: CPI was 3.1% in August and the Bank expects it to climb further over the coming quarters, largely on energy costs.
For most of 2026 the conversation among buyers and sellers has been about how far rates would eventually fall. This vote quietly replaces that question with a different one. The next move might be upwards.
I am not going to tell you that means you should rush. But if you have been waiting on the sidelines for cheaper money before making a move, it is worth asking honestly whether that money is actually coming. Stability at 3.75% is a perfectly workable market. It is the one we have been selling into all year, and rather successfully.
National asking prices are falling. Crawley prices are not.
Rightmove recorded the average price of a newly listed home falling 2.0% in August, down £7,360 to £364,999. That is the largest August drop in eight years, and the annual figure is now 1.0% down. The average agent is carrying 65 properties, close to a decade high, and homes are taking around 64 days to find a buyer nationally.
Now the local picture. Land Registry and ONS figures released on 16 September put the average Crawley sold price at £332,000 in July, up 2.3% on a year earlier. That is not just holding up against a falling national market. It is accelerating: in May the same measure was showing 1.5%.
| Property type in Crawley | Average price | Annual change |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £666,000 | Steady |
| Semi-detached | £426,000 | Up 3.7% |
| Terraced | £342,000 | Steady |
| Flats and maisonettes | £211,000 | Broadly flat |
Semi-detached homes are once again the strongest performer, and by a widening margin (3.1% last time I reported this, 3.7% now). Crawley’s neighbourhoods are built substantially from that stock, so a great many local owners are sitting on the best-performing part of the market without necessarily realising it.
Why those two things are not a contradiction
Asking prices are what sellers hope for on the day they list. Sold prices are what buyers actually paid. With 65 homes on the average agent’s books, buyers have choice, and choice makes them unsentimental. An over-priced home does not get negotiated down, it gets ignored, and by the time it has been reduced twice it usually sells for less than a sensible launch price would have achieved.
That gap is exactly where the 2.0% national fall is coming from. It is sellers correcting, not values collapsing.
What we are seeing in our own office
Our own books describe Crawley better than any national average can. Across July and August:
- We attended 61 market appraisals and took on 30 new instructions.
- We agreed 18 sales and completed 28 exchanges.
- We continued to achieve 99% of asking price, against a UK average of 97%.
The lettings side has been extraordinary. We carried out 293 viewings across the two months and agreed 51 lets, with 48 moves completed. August on its own produced 34 lets agreed from 168 viewings, double July’s figure. Anyone who tells you Crawley rental demand is softening has not been in our office on a Tuesday morning.
The other number worth sharing is the ratio: we are letting a property for roughly every five to seven viewings. Well-presented homes, priced correctly, are going almost immediately. The ones that sit are the ones that were optimistically priced on day one, which is the same lesson as the sales market wearing different clothes.
Landlords: the database is the thing to prepare for
The Renters’ Rights Act has been in force since 1 May, so the big changes are now simply how things work. Fixed terms are gone and every new tenancy is periodic. Section 21 no longer exists and possession requires a Section 8 ground. Rent rises happen once a year by Section 13 notice and can be challenged. Bidding wars are banned and you must advertise an asking rent.
What is still coming is the Private Rented Sector database, which begins rolling out regionally from late this year. Every landlord will need to register and log compliance information, and the mandatory landlord ombudsman follows in 2028.
If you are fully managed with us, this does not land on your desk. We will handle registration on your behalf when the rollout reaches West Sussex. If you self-manage, gather your gas safety certificates, electrical reports, EPCs and deposit protection records into one place now, because the database is going to ask for all of them and it is a great deal less painful done in advance.
If you are thinking of moving this autumn
If you are selling, price it properly on day one and get on the market in the next fortnight. Realistically, the window for completing before Christmas closes in early November. Book a free valuation and we will show you the comparable evidence behind the number rather than just the number.
If you are a landlord, get your compliance paperwork in order before the database arrives. Our fully managed service covers the new obligations as standard, and if you run an HMO our HMO team handles licensing and Article 4 routinely.
If you are buying, you have more choice than at any point in years, and a rate outlook that is no longer obviously improving. Register with us and we will tell you about the right property before it reaches the portals.
If you are an executor dealing with a property as part of an estate, we handle probate sales from the initial valuation right through to completion, quietly and without pressure. Our probate service explains how it works.
As always, if you want to talk through your own situation, call 01293 529999 or come into the office at 44 High Street. No obligation, no sales pitch, just a straight conversation about what this market means for you.
— Adam
Adam Charlton is the Managing Director of Homes Partnership, a property professional with over 18 years of local market experience in Crawley and West Sussex. Qualifications: MNAEA, MARLA, DipSP and certDEA. Adam joined Homes Partnership in 2007 and became Managing Director in 2015. He leads valuations, sales strategy, and the wider team, with a particular focus on probate sales, modern method auctions, and the local landlord community.
