96% of sale-price changes are cuts. Here's how big they are
Published 2026-07-12 · data as of 2026-10-16 · by Flatscout
We tracked every price change across 450,000+ listings: when the price moves, it almost always moves down — by about 5%.
Every time a listing's asking price changes on Rightmove, Zoopla or SpareRoom, Flatscout records it. Across 293,005 sale listings and 137,801 rentals whose price changed in the 180 days to 16 October 2026, a clear pattern emerges: asking prices are set optimistically and corrected downwards.
When the price moves, it moves down
| Market | Listings tracked | Reduced | Median reduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| For sale | 293,005 | 95.9% | 5.1% |
| Rentals | 137,801 | 87.7% | 5.6% |
| Rooms / flatshares | 24,006 | 66.7% | 7.1% |
For sellers, a price change is almost an admission: 19 in 20 sale-price changes are reductions. Rentals show about three times more upward movement than sales (landlords do raise asking rents mid-listing in hot pockets), and the room market is the most volatile in both directions.
Where rental cuts are biggest
| Borough | Tracked | % reduced | Median cut |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington and Chelsea | 2,278 | 85.0% | 6.4% |
| Merton | 856 | 90.8% | 6.3% |
| Camden | 2,168 | 84.7% | 5.8% |
| Westminster | 3,006 | 80.7% | 5.7% |
| Waltham Forest | 725 | 86.6% | 5.7% |
| Richmond upon Thames | 717 | 91.6% | 5.7% |
| Wandsworth | 2,223 | 85.1% | 5.6% |
| Lambeth | 1,844 | 86.1% | 5.6% |
| Ealing | 1,186 | 87.9% | 5.6% |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 1,585 | 85.9% | 5.5% |
| Brent | 1,779 | 84.5% | 5.3% |
| Hillingdon | 867 | 90.7% | 5.3% |
| Islington | 1,478 | 84.4% | 5.2% |
| Hackney | 1,269 | 85.1% | 5.1% |
| Redbridge | 859 | 87.1% | 5.1% |
| Southwark | 1,606 | 83.4% | 5.0% |
| Haringey | 1,315 | 87.7% | 5.0% |
| Lewisham | 963 | 87.6% | 5.0% |
| Havering | 479 | 92.7% | 5.0% |
| Newham | 1,446 | 83.3% | 4.8% |
Kensington and Chelsea cuts deepest — its rentals that reprice drop a median 6.4%, versus 4.8% in Newham. Where landlords overreach on the opening rent, the correction is bigger.
How to use this in your search
Set your saved-search price ceiling a few percent above your real budget: with a median cut of 5%, a listing priced just over your limit is a realistic target once it has sat for a few weeks. Watch for reductions, not only new listings — portal saved searches generally alert on new stock rather than on price changes, so a repriced listing reaches far fewer people than a fresh one. And when a listing you like is cut, move quickly: the reduction tells you the seller or landlord is motivated, but it also puts the listing back in front of everyone whose filters it now matches.
How we measured this
For every listing with a price change in the 180 days to 16 October 2026, we compared the first asking price we ever saw against the most recent. 'Reduced' means the latest price is below the first; the median cut is computed over reduced listings only. Listings whose price never changed are excluded — this is an analysis of what happens when a price moves, not how often it moves. The figures are refreshed monthly.