A busier season still needs a convincing home
October arrives with a familiar hope: buyers return, diaries fill and the autumn market gets moving. September’s figures offer some encouragement. They also give London sellers a reason to examine the detail before changing their expectations.
This edition of The Brief looks at the latest published September evidence available on 5 October 2026. The question for a seller is practical: how do you turn attention into a buyer who can proceed?
What the September figures actually say
Rightmove’s September 2026 index puts London’s average new asking price at £657,775: up 1.8% over the month, but down 2.6% from a year earlier. Across Great Britain, new asking prices rose 0.7% in September. Available stock was at a twelve-year seasonal high, while buyer enquiries were 9% below the previous year.
These are advertised prices, not completed-sale values. A monthly rise can coexist with a demanding market. The mix of homes coming to market also matters; a regional average cannot establish what one street, building or home is worth.
The interest-rate headline is only part of a buyer’s budget
The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75% at its September meeting, with six committee members supporting a hold and three preferring a rise to 4%. Its next scheduled decision is 5 November.
That decision does not fix an individual buyer’s mortgage rate. Deposit size, borrowing requirements, lender criteria and the chosen product all affect the offer available. Buyers should check their actual budget with a lender or mortgage adviser before committing to a purchase.
For sellers, the useful lesson is to understand the buyer behind an enquiry. Someone may love the kitchen and still need to resolve their funding. A clear conversation about readiness helps both sides plan.
Mark’s view: make the comparison easy
A buyer browsing London homes is comparing alternatives. The campaign needs to explain why this particular home belongs on their shortlist.
Start with one believable reason to visit. Perhaps the reception room has an unusually open outlook. Perhaps the kitchen and garden work together well. Perhaps the floor plan solves an everyday problem that photographs alone do not explain.
Let the lead image, opening paragraph and floor plan support that reason. Avoid asking a buyer to assemble the story from twenty photographs and a paragraph full of superlatives.
The same principle applies to price. Review competing homes that a buyer could realistically choose instead. Distinguish their advertised prices from completed sales, and account for differences in condition, tenure, space and outdoor access. A compelling campaign works best when its price position makes sense.
Look at where the conversation stops
If the home is already on the market, ask your agent to walk through the route from online attention to an offer.
Are people enquiring? Are suitable buyers viewing? What questions come up during the visit? What information do they ask for afterwards?
A viewing that stalls over an unanswered building question needs a different response from a home attracting no suitable enquiries. Neither pattern proves the cause by itself. Specific feedback, comparable evidence and a review of the marketing should inform the next change.
Agree one clear action and a date to review it. That might mean improving the opening photographs, clarifying the particulars, making viewings easier to arrange or revisiting the price. Changing everything at once can make it harder to understand what helped.
Give the offer a proper conversation
When an offer arrives, record more than the number. Establish how it will be funded, whether an onward sale is involved and which dates are realistic. Ask what remains to be checked rather than assuming that enthusiasm means readiness.
For a seller planning an onward move, those details help show whether the whole sequence is workable. A higher offer with unresolved dependencies and a lower offer with a clearer route deserve a considered comparison.
Keep the information organised and involve the relevant professionals as the transaction progresses. Good communication cannot remove every obstacle, but it can expose the next question early.
Your October starting point
Choose the strongest reason a buyer should see the home. Check the price against relevant alternatives. Make the practical information available. Then agree how enquiries, feedback and offers will be assessed.
The September recovery is useful context. The decisions that follow should belong to your property and your move.
If you are preparing to sell, or reviewing a campaign that has lost momentum, tell Mark the postcode, property type and what you want to achieve. We can start with the home itself and build a campaign around it.
Figures refer to the sources’ September 2026 releases and were checked on 5 October 2026. The campaign recommendations are KnokKnok’s editorial perspective.
