First-Time Buyer Enquiries Down 27%: What It Means for Sellers

By Lisa Hayes · 14 November 2026

First-time buyer enquiries fell 27% year-on-year in the week to 8 November, according to new Zoopla data, as the Bank of England's rise in Bank Rate to 4% made would-be buyers stop and wait. Agreed sales are down 10.5% while the number of homes for sale is up 8.6%. If you're selling, especially a flat, a two-bed or anything under £200,000, the buyer at the bottom of your chain just got harder to find, and the price you set now matters more than it has in three years.

I've been watching first-time buyer numbers for a long time, and I'll be honest with you: this is the figure in this week's news that worries me most. Not because 27% is an apocalyptic number on its own (weekly enquiry data jumps about a lot) but because of who is pulling back. First-time buyers don't have a house to sell. They're the people who make every other move possible. When they hesitate, the whole ladder wobbles.

So let's go through what Zoopla actually found, why it happened, where in the country it's biting hardest, and what it means if your home is on the market or about to be.

• -27%first-time buyer enquiries, year-on-year (week to 8 Nov)
• -10.5%sales agreed, year-on-year
• +8.6%homes for sale, year-on-year
• -15%average buying power since the start of 2026

What exactly did Zoopla report?

Zoopla's latest figures, published on Friday 13 November and reported by The Intermediary, The Negotiator, Property Industry Eye and the Press Association, cover the week to 8 November 2026. That's the first full week after the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee raised Bank Rate from 3.75% to 4%, its first increase in more than three years.

The headline numbers:

• First-time buyer enquiries were down 27% compared with the same week last year. Zoopla counts an enquiry as a first-time buyer contacting an agent through its website to book a viewing or ask for more detail about a property.
• Sales agreed were down 10.5% year-on-year.
• The number of homes for sale was up 8.6% year-on-year.
• Buying power has fallen by an average of 15% since the start of 2026, because higher mortgage rates mean the same income now supports a smaller loan.
• Two-bedroom houses for sale are up 14% and homes priced below £200,000 are up 13%, which is exactly the territory where first-time buyers shop.

Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, put the significance plainly: "First-time buyers are the engine of the housing market accounting for four in 10 sales last year." Four in ten. Take a quarter of the enquiries out of that group and you feel it everywhere.

He also said: "Higher mortgage rates over the year have reflected expectations of further increases in the base rate, with the Bank of England decision last week making more buyers pause and wait."

Pause and wait. That phrase is the whole story, really.

Why have first-time buyers pulled back so sharply?

Three things have landed on first-time buyers at once, and they hit this group harder than anyone else.

1. Mortgage rates have climbed all year

The rate rise itself was only a quarter of a point. But lenders had been pricing it in for months. According to Connells Group, the average mortgage rate paid by homebuyers rose from 4.14% at the start of 2026 to 5.22% in October. On Connells' numbers, the monthly repayment on a typical property with a 75% mortgage over 25 years is now £1,224, against £1,115 a year earlier and £874 in 2019.

That's where Zoopla's 15% drop in buying power comes from. If your salary hasn't moved but your rate has, the bank will lend you less. And a first-time buyer has no equity from a previous home to plug the gap.

2. Deposits hurt more when rates are higher

Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, explained it neatly: "First-time buyers are particularly affected because of the need for a deposit and the increased mortgage rates that are associated with higher loan-to-value ratios."

In plain English: a buyer with a 5% or 10% deposit pays a noticeably higher rate than someone borrowing 60% of a home's value. When rates rise across the board, the gap at the high loan-to-value end tends to sting most. (If terms like LTV are a bit foggy, our property jargon explainer covers them.)

3. Nobody wants to buy the day before things get cheaper

This is the psychological bit, and I think it's underrated. When people expect rates to keep rising, some rush to lock in. When they suspect rates might be near a peak, or they simply don't know, a lot of them sit on their hands. With inflation at 3.5% and the Bank of England forecasting it to rise towards 5%, according to commentary in Introducer Today, the honest answer to "where are mortgage rates going?" right now is "nobody's sure". Uncertainty makes cautious people more cautious, and first-time buyers are, understandably, cautious people. It's the biggest financial decision they've ever made.

Is a 27% fall as bad as it sounds?

Partly yes, partly no. Let me separate the signal from the headline.

The "no" first. This is one week of enquiry data compared with one week last year. The Negotiator's report notes that changes in buyer demand tend to be more volatile than changes in sales agreed. A rate decision is precisely the sort of event that causes a sharp short-term flinch. Some of those buyers will be back once they've had a fresh mortgage-in-principle and done their sums. Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, said member agents "have continued to report steady numbers of registrations from prospective buyers overall." People are still registering. They're just not picking up the phone to book viewings as readily.

Now the "yes". The 27% doesn't sit on its own. It joins a run of weak readings we've covered here over the past fortnight: Bank of England figures showing mortgage approvals for house purchase fell to 53,443 in September, the lowest since December 2023 and almost 20% below a year earlier; Lloyds reporting prices down 1.2% year-on-year in October; Nationwide's annual growth slowing to 0.5%; and RICS surveyors' sales expectations hitting a three-year low. Connells estimates higher-than-expected mortgage rates have knocked roughly 100,000 sales off what it originally expected for 2026.

So no, first-time buyers haven't vanished. But the trend was already pointing down before the rate rise, and the rate rise gave it a shove. I'd treat this as confirmation of a direction, not a one-off scare.

Where is the slowdown hitting hardest?

The regional picture is where this gets really useful for you, because it's not one market. Zoopla's figures show the South and East of England carrying most of the pain, while parts of the North and Scotland are still posting price growth.

Region	Homes for sale (yoy)	Sales agreed (yoy)	House prices (yoy)
South East	+12.4%	-16.2%	-0.6%
East of England	+17%	-7.6%	-0.5%
South West	+12.3%	Not given	-0.4%
London	+6%	-6.1%	-1%
North West	Broadly unchanged	Below last year	+3.2%
North East	Broadly unchanged	Below last year	+2.4%
Scotland	Not given	+1.4%	+2.5%

Source: Zoopla, as reported by The Intermediary and The Negotiator (13 November 2026). London and Scotland figures as reported by Property Industry Eye.

The South East: the widest gap in the country

The South East is the standout, and not in a good way. Supply is up 12.4% and sales agreed are down 16.2%. The Negotiator described this as the widest gap between supply and sales anywhere. When more homes are coming to market and fewer are selling, that gap has to close somehow, and it usually closes through price. Prices there are already 0.6% lower than a year ago.

If you're selling in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire or the Thames Valley, you are competing against more listings for a smaller pool of buyers than at any point in the last few years. That's not a reason to panic. It is a reason to be very clear-eyed about your asking price.

East of England: supply surge

The East of England has the biggest jump in stock of any region, with homes for sale up 17%. Sales agreed are down 7.6%, less dramatic than the South East, but with that much extra supply, buyers have a lot of choice. Prices are 0.5% down on the year.

London: already bruised

London's price fall of 1% is the steepest in the table, which won't surprise anyone who's followed the capital over the past few years. Connells points out that London prices rose just 0.9% over five years while consumer prices rose 21.8%; in real terms, London homes have lost a lot of value. Connells is forecasting a 4.5% fall in Inner London prices this year.

The North and Scotland: still growing, but not immune

The North West (+3.2%) and North East (+2.4%) are still seeing prices rise, and supply there is broadly flat, which helps. Scotland is the only region where Property Industry Eye reported sales agreed actually rising, by 1.4%, with prices up 2.5%. Lower average prices mean a 15% hit to buying power still leaves many buyers able to afford something.

But don't read too much comfort into those price figures. Sales agreed in the North West and North East are still below last year's levels. Price growth is a lagging indicator: it reflects deals agreed weeks or months ago. Sales agreed tell you what's happening now.

Why should you care if you're not selling to a first-time buyer?

This is the question I get most whenever first-time buyer numbers dip. "I'm selling a four-bed detached. First-time buyers can't afford my house anyway. Why does this matter to me?"

Because of chains.

Your buyer for that four-bed is very likely selling a three-bed. Their buyer is probably selling a two-bed or a flat. And the person buying that flat? Very often, a first-time buyer. If that bottom rung goes missing or takes three extra months to arrive, everyone above them waits. Or, worse, the chain falls apart altogether. (We've written a full guide on what to do if your property chain breaks.)

Zoopla's numbers show exactly where the blockage is building: two-bed houses for sale up 14%, homes under £200,000 up 13%. Those are the properties your buyer's buyer is trying to sell. If they're sitting unsold, your sale sits too.

So yes, even if you're at the top of the ladder, a 27% drop in first-time buyer enquiries is your problem. It just reaches you a few links down the chain.

What does this mean if you're selling a flat or a starter home?

If you're selling a one- or two-bed flat, a small terrace, or anything under about £200,000, this news lands right on your doorstep. You are selling, overwhelmingly, to first-time buyers, and a quarter fewer of them are making enquiries than this time last year. At the same time, 13% more homes in your price range are competing for them.

Here's what I'd be thinking about:

• Price to the buyer's mortgage, not your neighbour's sale. The flat next door that sold for £195,000 in spring sold to someone with 15% more borrowing power than today's buyer. That comparable is out of date.
• Make the monthly cost look manageable. First-time buyers think in monthly payments. If your service charge or ground rent is high, be upfront and ready to explain it.
• Get your paperwork ready now. Lease details, management pack, EPC, any FENSA or building regs certificates. A nervous first-time buyer who hits a delay is a first-time buyer who walks.
• Check whether new-build incentives compete with you. The government's Your First Home scheme, backed by £4.7 billion and aimed at helping around 70,000 first-time buyers in England buy new-build homes from April next year, according to Introducer Today's summary of the Budget, could pull some buyers towards developers instead of second-hand flats. That's a 2027 issue, but worth knowing about if you're planning a spring sale.

What should you do now if your home is on the market?

Richard Donnell's advice to sellers was the most quotable line in Zoopla's release: "Sellers need to recognise that buyers have more choice and pricing realistically is increasingly important." I'd go one step further. Pricing realistically isn't "increasingly important". In the South and East right now, it's the single biggest factor in whether you sell this winter at all.

If you've had no viewings in four weeks

Your price is the problem. I know that's blunt. But with more stock on the market and fewer buyers enquiring, homes that are 5% overpriced don't get a slow trickle of interest; they get none. Buyers filter by price on Rightmove and Zoopla, and if you're above their ceiling they literally never see you. Ask your agent for their honest view, and get an independent check on what your house is worth in today's market, not last spring's.

If you have an offer from a first-time buyer

Treat it with care. Ask whether they have a mortgage agreement in principle dated after the rate rise; one issued in October may now be for a bigger loan than the lender will actually offer. If the offer is solid, think hard before pushing for more. A chain-free buyer with a mortgage approved at today's rates is worth a lot in a market like this.

If you're in a chain that's starting to wobble

Talk to everyone early. Find out who's at the bottom and how secure they are. If a first-time buyer's mortgage offer is about to expire, that's a risk to you too. Our guide to selling a house that won't sell covers the options if things stall.

If you need to move by a certain date

Job moves, divorces, inherited properties, mortgage pressures: some people simply can't wait out a soft patch. If that's you, it's worth knowing your options before the market forces your hand. A cash buyer removes the mortgage and chain risk entirely, though at a discount to full market value. How much of a discount varies a lot between firms, which is why we built a guide to what percentage of market value cash buyers pay. A cash sale isn't right for everyone, and in a normal market I'd usually tell most people to try an agent first. But when buyer demand drops by a quarter in a week, the trade-off between speed and price shifts, and it's worth weighing up properly.

Are forced sellers about to flood the market?

This is a fair worry. If rates are rising, won't stretched homeowners start selling up and add even more stock?

Not yet, on the evidence. UK Finance figures for the third quarter, published the same day as Zoopla's data, showed homeowner mortgage arrears down 10% year-on-year to 76,080, the tenth consecutive quarterly fall. Just 0.87% of homeowner mortgages are in arrears. Repossessions were 1,840 across all properties, 20% lower than a year earlier.

But the industry isn't relaxed. Richard Pike of Phoebus Software warned that "there is a risk that improving arrears figures mask some of the underlying pressures facing households." Arrears data is backward-looking, like price data. The pinch from a rate rise takes months to show up, usually when fixed deals end. If you're coming off a cheap fix in the next year and worried about the new payment, talk to your lender early. Mark Harris of SPF Private Clients put it well: it's important "that borrowers don't ignore the problem as that will only make matters worse."

Will first-time buyers come back?

Yes. The question is when, and at what price.

There are a few things that could bring them back faster. Lower rates are the obvious one. Tom Bill at Knight Frank argued that "events in Washington rather than Westminster are shaping the outlook for the UK housing market," and that "a lasting diplomatic solution in the Middle East would lower energy prices and inflation expectations" which "would be of greater benefit to first time buyers than anything announced in the Budget." I think he's right. The single biggest thing that would help first-time buyers is cheaper energy feeding through to lower inflation, lower swap rates and cheaper mortgages. Nobody in the UK housing market controls that.

The second thing that brings buyers back is prices adjusting. When sellers accept that the market has moved and price accordingly, buyers who've been waiting tend to re-engage, because the maths starts working again. That's already happening in places. It's uncomfortable if you're a seller, but it's how markets clear.

The third is time. Connells' research director Aneisha Beveridge said that "by mid-2027, the final wave of households on cheap five-year fixes taken out before rates began to rise will be refinancing," and that "the refinancing shock that has weighed on confidence and activity should start to fade." Connells still forecasts modest national price growth of 1.5% in 2027, but Beveridge also warned that "if rates remain around 5%, the risk of small house price falls in 2027, rather than growth, increases significantly."

Forecast (Connells Group)	2026	2027
Great Britain	+1%	+1.5%
London	-1%	+2%
Inner London	-4.5%	+0.5%
South East	0%	+1%
North East	+3%	+2.5%

Source: Connells Group forecasts, as reported by Property Industry Eye, 2 November 2026. Note these were published before the rate rise and before this week's Zoopla figures.

My take: what this really means for you

Let me cut through it.

Some of the headlines this week have the market "on life support". I don't buy the drama. Homes are still selling. Buyers are still registering. Prices in large parts of the North and Scotland are still rising.

But I also don't buy the reassurance that this is "just a blip". The pattern since late summer is consistent: fewer mortgage approvals, softer prices, more stock, falling sales expectations, and now the buyers at the bottom of the ladder stepping back. That is a buyer's market forming, most clearly in the South and East of England.

For you as a seller, that means three things:

• Your price needs to reflect today's buyer, not last year's. A buyer with 15% less borrowing power can't stretch to a price set in a different rate environment, however lovely your kitchen is.
• Speed and certainty are worth more than they were. A proceedable buyer, a short chain, a mortgage agreed at current rates: these have real value now. Sometimes that's worth more than the last few thousand pounds.
• Know all your options before you need them. Whether it's a traditional agent, an auction or a cash buyer, the time to compare is before the pressure is on, not after your third price reduction.

Winter is always quieter. Combined with this week's news, I'd expect the next couple of months to be hard going for sellers in the South, East and London, especially at the starter-home end. If you can wait until spring and you're not under pressure, that's a reasonable choice. If you can't, price sharply and get ahead of the pack. Homes that are priced right still sell, even now. Homes that aren't, simply don't.

Where to go from here

If you're weighing up when and how to sell, start with a realistic idea of your home's value and an honest comparison of the routes open to you. Our guide to selling your house fast sets out the main options side by side, and our house prices hub tracks the latest index data month by month.

And if you'd like to see what fast-sale and cash buyer companies would actually offer for your home, with no obligation and without anyone knocking on your door, you can compare offers through Ready Steady Sell. It takes a couple of minutes, and at the very least you'll know where you stand.

Lisa Hayes, founder, Ready Steady Sell