Review of the year: What did the final quarter property numbers tell us?

In the first of the regular series with Rob Gurney and Ben Robinson, Today’s Conveyancer once again delves into the latest numbers from Landmark’s Property Trends report, looking at the final quarter of 2025. 

In a year of two halves, the first half of 2025 was characterised by strong transaction numbers, driven in part by the stamp duty‑related push to progress home moves ahead of the 31st March deadline, and optimism surrounding the relatively newly elected government.

The second half told a different story, as uncertainty around the Budget led many sellers to hesitate, with falling listings and reduced supply and demand contributing to widespread asking price reductions reported by major portals.

But before we get too doom and gloom, it is worth reminding ourselves of the context of the time. New lawyer instructions in Q4 2025 were 17% lower than the same period in 2024, with November alone down 25% year-on-year. However, comparisons to a market artificially inflated by the rush to complete ahead of the SDLT deadline do not compare apples with apples, says Gurney.

And when completions are examined, the picture looks less severe, with Q4 2025 completions down only 6% year-on-year; with December a standout month with the highest number of completions per working day in any month of the year apart from SDLT-influenced March.

The completions‑to‑instructions ratio reached 121%, one of the highest on record, reflecting both subdued new instructions and an extraordinary pre‑Christmas effort to clear pipelines. However, Gurney warns this year‑end surge inevitably left firms entering January with smaller, less mature pipelines, contributing to a quieter start to 2026. Focusing on the underlying numbers rather than headline comparisons will be essential as the market moves through the first quarter of 2026.