UK house prices flatlined in July, with Lloyds reporting unchanged average values and annual growth of just 0.1 per cent, the slowest pace since November 2023. Amanda Bryden, director of mortgages at Lloyds, noted borrowers’ sensitivity to volatile mortgage costs since the Iran war began in February, keeping affordability a persistent hurdle.

The market has entered what Anthony Codling of RBC Capital Markets calls "suspended animation": prices nationally are neither falling sharply nor rising convincingly, trapped in a narrow two‑year range by stretched affordability and mortgage rates that refuse to fall far enough for long enough.

Regional divergence persists: Northern Ireland prices rose 7.4 per cent, Scotland 3.6 per cent, while London fell 1.3 per cent to £533,930 and the South‑East dropped 2 per cent. Mortgage approvals edged up 2.9 per cent month‑on‑month to 58,200 in June but remain 10 per cent below a year earlier. Recent declines in swap rates have prompted Nationwide, Barclays and Gen H to trim fixed‑rate deals, with Barclays offering a tracker at 3.99 per cent.