Market Comment Summer 2026 ~ Northamptonshire & East Oxfordshire

The early-year urgency has settled, even if the wider backdrop hasn’t. Andy Burnham arrived at Downing Street last week with a housing agenda that will generate plenty of debate, and a degree of caution in some headlines is to be expected. Locally, though, the numbers tell a steadier story: the Bank of England has now held the base rate at 3.75% for the fourth meeting running, fixed mortgage rates have continued to ease since the spring, and Knight Frank have quietly revised down their UK house price growth forecast for 2026, from 3% to 1.5%. None of that is bad news. It is simply a market moving from sprint to a steadier pace, and for anyone searching across Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and East Oxfordshire this summer, that pace suits a clearer head far better than the scramble of January, whatever else is dominating the headlines.

Plenty of Choice, Slower Decisions

Stock levels remain at an eleven to twelve-year high across the region, so the abundance of choice we flagged in the spring hasn’t gone anywhere. What has changed is the pace of decision-making. Average time to find a buyer across the East Midlands has stretched to around 79 days this spring, one of the slowest spring markets in over a decade, and that is reshaping how both buyers and sellers need to think.

The polarisation we mentioned earlier in the year hasn’t softened either. In Northamptonshire, homes in the £240,000 to £260,000 bracket continue to sell fastest, and prices are still climbing steadily (North Northants +2.4%, West Northants +2.2% year on year). Buckinghamshire has cooled slightly overall (-1.4%), but that headline figure hides real strength in pockets such as Amersham (+4.3%) and Princes Risborough (+4.2%). Bedfordshire is the one to watch: prices are up 4.3% year on year, and the county now has a genuinely significant long-term story behind it, with planning consent confirmed for a major new Universal theme park development expected to bring tens of thousands of jobs and billions in investment over the next decade.

The Rules Are Changing. The Question of Whose Side You’re On Isn’t.

Mid-June brought the Government’s biggest shake-up of the homebuying process in years: mandatory sales packs, earlier binding agreements, and a new Code of Practice for estate agents, all aimed at cutting buying time and reducing the fall-throughs that plague the current system. It is a welcome step, even if the detail will take up to three years to land in full. Andy Burnham, who took office on 20 July, has spoken about replacing stamp duty and council tax with an annual property levy, and we know that will be on many buyers’ minds right now. The honest context is that a change of that scale would take two to three years to design and legislate at minimum, and nothing has been confirmed. There is time to make a well-considered decision without waiting on a policy that remains some way off. But the direction of travel, away from a system that only ever protected sellers, isn’t likely to reverse. It is also worth being honest about what this does and doesn’t change for you right now. Estate agents will still be working, by law, for the seller. A buying agent is the only person in the transaction whose job is to look after you.

That distinction matters more, not less, in a market where homes are taking longer to sell and buyers have more to weigh up. Three things we bring to the table as the summer market unfolds:

• Local Knowledge, Street by Street: From the new developments reshaping Wellingborough and Aylesbury to the infrastructure quietly changing Bedfordshire’s commutability, we track what’s coming before it shows up in the asking price.
• Your Time, Protected: With more homes to wade through than usual, we shortlist and vet on your behalf, so the viewings you do attend are ones worth attending.
• Negotiation That Reads the Market: A slower market rewards buyers who know when to push and when to wait. Forty years of doing exactly that means we know the difference.

If you are weighing up a move this summer and want a professional advocate in your corner while the rest of the market catches up to where buying agents already are, please do get in touch.

Rachel Johnston is the Stacks Regional Director for Northamptonshire.

She has been analysing the local market since 2012.

Learn more on How Rachel can help with your house search in Northamptonshire