Rightmove's April Index: Northern Cities Pull Ahead While London Slides

Every month, Rightmove's House Price Index gives us the freshest read on where the UK market is actually heading, because asking prices move before sold prices do. The April 2026 edition tells a clear story: the national market is soft, but the softness is not evenly spread. The big regional cities of the North and Midlands are quietly outperforming on price, on momentum and on speed of sale, while London continues to drag the average down.

The national picture: flat with a southern anchor

According to Rightmove's April 2026 House Price Index, the average UK asking price now stands at 373,971 pounds. That is up 0.8 percent on the month, below the long-term April average of 1.2 percent, so spring has arrived with less than its usual bounce, and down 0.9 percent on the year. Across the UK, it currently takes an average of 66 days to find a buyer.

A modest annual decline at national level sounds gloomy until you decompose it. Strip out the South and the picture changes completely. Rightmove's data shows Scotland up 3.75 percent year on year, the North East up 2.16 percent and Wales up 1.93 percent. The weakness is concentrated where prices are highest.

City by city: the North and Midlands lead

The city-level numbers in the April index are where investors should focus.

• • Manchester: asking prices up 2.0 percent year on year and 0.4 percent on the month, with an average asking price of 271,750 pounds. Homes in Manchester find a buyer in 60 days on average, around 9 percent faster than the national figure.
• • Birmingham: up 1.21 percent annually and a strong 1.65 percent month on month, with an average asking price of 299,150 pounds and a 66-day average time to find a buyer, matching the UK norm.
• • Leeds: up 1.05 percent on the year and 1.28 percent on the month, averaging 258,812 pounds, with buyers found in 69 days.

Now contrast London. The capital is the weakest region in the index, with asking prices down 2.72 percent year on year and still slipping month on month. The average London asking price of 680,147 pounds takes 74 days to attract a buyer, a full two weeks longer than Manchester.

Time on market is an underrated signal. It measures the live balance of supply and demand in a way headline prices cannot. When Manchester homes are selling two weeks faster than London homes at less than half the price, that is the market telling you where the depth of demand really sits.

The mortgage backdrop explains the divergence

Why is the gap so wide? Largely because of what has happened to borrowing costs. Average two-year fixed mortgage rates have climbed from 4.25 percent to 5.42 percent, adding roughly 235 pounds to a typical monthly payment. That kind of increase bites hardest where loan sizes are biggest. A buyer borrowing against a 680,000 pound London property feels the full force of it; a buyer in Leeds at 258,000 pounds feels a fraction.

The result is a market that is repricing from the top down. High-value southern stock has to discount to find buyers, while affordable regional cities, where mortgage payments still fit comfortably inside household budgets, keep moving and keep appreciating.

Rents are growing faster than prices

There is a second leg to the investment case. Zoopla forecasts UK rents rising by around 3 percent in 2026, which means rental growth is currently outpacing capital growth at national level. For income-focused investors, that combination, flat-to-rising regional prices, faster-than-inflation rental growth, and quick lettings in undersupplied cities, is close to ideal. You are buying yield at sensible entry prices, with the price appreciation forecast to follow as rates ease.

Reading the index like an investor

Three takeaways from the April data are worth holding onto.

• • Momentum lives in the regional cities. Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds are all posting positive annual growth in a falling national market, and all three are doing it on healthy monthly momentum.
• • Liquidity matters as much as growth. A 60-day average sale time in Manchester is not just convenient; it is evidence of deep, persistent buyer demand that protects you on exit.
• • The affordability gap is the engine. With two-year fixes at 5.42 percent, capital is rotating toward markets where the numbers still work, and that rotation shows no sign of reversing this year.

The spring market of 2026 is not the strongest on record, but it is one of the most clearly signposted. The demand has moved north, and the data is no longer subtle about it.

Silkwood Group gives UK and international investors access to residential developments in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and other high-performing regional cities. If you would like to see what is currently available in these markets, our team would be glad to help.