UK house prices are up 2.7%, but why does that not match the asking prices you're seeing?

What did the ONS release actually show?

The Office for National Statistics' Private Rent and House Prices bulletin, published 22 July 2026, covers two datasets. UK house prices rose 2.7% in the 12 months to May 2026, to an average of £271,000, down from 3.9% growth in the 12 months to April. In England, which takes in the whole Huntingdonshire patch, growth was slower still, at 2.3%, to an average of £292,000. Within England the picture varies widely, from 5.9% annual growth in the North East to a 3.7% annual fall in London.

The same release put average UK private rents at £1,388 a month, up 3.3% in the 12 months to June 2026 (unchanged from May), with the England average at £1,446, up 3.4%. That matters for the patch's landlords, but it's the sales figures that matter most for buyers and sellers right now, because they expose a gap between two of the property market's most watched numbers.

Why are sold prices rising while asking prices are falling?

ONS house price data comes from HM Land Registry completions, which typically finalise two to three months after a sale is agreed. May's figures reflect offers accepted back in the winter and early spring, when competition for well-presented homes was still pushing prices up. Our Rightmove July 2026 index write-up covered the other side of that coin: asking prices across Huntingdonshire fell 1.2% to £373,709 that same week, the steepest July drop on record, even as the number of sales being agreed hit its best July since 2021.

The two numbers aren't contradicting each other. They are describing different points in the same cycle. Today's asking prices are next quarter's completions, so a softer asking-price market now points to a softer completions figure by the time the ONS catches up in the autumn.

What does this mean for villages across the patch?

The ONS doesn't publish a Huntingdonshire-specific figure, so treating England's 2.3% as evenly spread across Huntingdon, Brampton, Godmanchester and Buckden would overstate what the data can actually tell us. What it does confirm is the direction of travel: England is still recording modest annual growth on completed sales, but it is a market where the leading indicator, what sellers are asking for today, has already turned softer. That combination, rising-but-slowing, matches what we're seeing on the ground across the patch: homes priced sensibly from the outset are still selling, while ambitiously priced ones are sitting longer and need a correction to shift.

What should sellers do with a lagging figure?

Don't take comfort from a 2.3% national rise for England if you're pricing a home today. That figure reflects deals agreed months ago, not current buyer appetite. A property valued against what has actually sold in the last few weeks, not what the annual index says, is the one that attracts a serious offer quickly. That's exactly the comparison a free property valuation gives you.

What should buyers take from England's slower rise?

England's cooling growth rate, combined with asking prices falling and sales agreed at their best July level since 2021, points to a market where negotiating room has genuinely opened up. Buyers who move now, with a mortgage agreement in principle ready, are dealing with sellers who are more realistic about price than they were six months ago.

Whichever side of a move you're on, understanding where a specific property sits against recent local sales, rather than a national or regional average, is the starting point. A free in-person valuation gives sellers a grounded figure to list against, and gives buyers a benchmark for what a fair offer looks like on a home in Huntingdon, Brampton or Godmanchester.