Zoopla’s 2025 Year in Property: Rural dreams, fastest moving markets and an optimistic end to the year

• It’s been a popular year for rural living, with a three-bed detached home in South-West Wales taking the top spot for the most viewed property.

• The average time to sell in 2025 was 38 days, up from 35 days in 2024.

• Three-bed terraced properties were the most popular property type.

• Falkirk in Scotland remains the UK’s fastest moving market, with an average time to sell of 15 days.

• May was the most popular month to list a property for sale, while January was the month with the most visitors to Zoopla.co.uk.

• ‘Garage’ and ‘Annexe’ were the most popular search terms in 2025, replacing ‘Freehold’ as last year’s frontrunner.

• In the first few months of 2026, Zoopla predicts a boost to the housing market following a period of uncertainty amidst Budget property tax speculation.

EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 MONDAY 8TH DECEMBER 2025, LONDON: With the property market set to finish the year with 1.15m sales completions (4.5 per cent higher than 2024), Zoopla, one of the UK’s leading property websites has revealed key consumer trends and buyer behaviour over the past 12 months. 

Rural living: The most viewed property of 2025

The most viewed property in 2025, was a three-bed detached home in Pencader, a small village in Carmarthenshire, Wales. With its rural setting, solar panels and space to grow vegetables or keep chickens, the home is ideal for those looking to go ‘off grid’, whilst still being close to the nearby village. 

The second most-viewed property in 2025 is a luxurious six-bed villa, on 11 acres of private grounds in Prestwick, Scotland. Priced at £1,800,000 and featuring an indoor ‘leisure wing’ with swimming pool, sauna, steam room and gym as well as a floodlit multi-sport pitch, it’s truly a rare find,

On Zoopla’s social media, the most popular listing was Doris from Gavin & Stacey’s terraced home in Barry. Listed for the tidy sum of £220,000, the property is situated on the famous hilly street and features an open-plan lounge and diner, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Which months saw the most housing market interest and activity?

When it came to browsing on Zoopla.co.uk, January was the most popular month for visitors to the Zoopla website. This aligns with the ‘Boxing Day Bounce’ on the 26th of December and the new year which traditionally drives an increase in property searches as people start looking for a new home at the beginning of the year.

May was the most popular month to list a home for sale on Zoopla as families spend time finding their next home before listing their own, while according to HMRC, March was the busiest month of the year for completions with 178,000 property transactions completed in the UK with a value of £40,000 or more. 

Scottish homes are the speediest time to sell in 2025

The average time to sell in 2025 was 38 days, up from 35 days in 2024, with three-bed terraced properties the most popular property type, accounting for 18% of buyer enquiries. 

Falkirk retains the crown as the fastest-moving property market in the UK, with a time to sell of just 13 days, along with West Dunbartonshire (13 days), North Lanarkshire (13 days) and East Ayrshire (13 days). All of the top ten fastest-moving markets are located in Scotland, where properties are listed with a valuation and survey upfront, driving speedier agreements on sales. 

Sunderland was the fastest-moving market in England and Wales with a time to sell of 23 days, along with Bedford (23 days), Knowsley (23 days) and Carlisle (23 days).

Table 1: Fastest moving markets (UK-wide)

Source: Zoopla

Table 2: Fastest moving markets in England and Wales

Source: Zoopla

Trending keywords on Zoopla in 2025, ‘garage’ takes the crown 

When looking at on-site searches, ‘garage’ takes the top spot for keyword searches on Zoopla.co.uk, replacing ‘freehold’ which took the top spot for the past two years. This is followed by ‘annexe’, as well as ‘double garage’, ‘acres’ and ‘pool’, as potential buyers search for additional features, and additional space in their homes. 

Table 3: Top keyword searches in 2024 and 2025

Source: Zoopla

The house price winners and losers

When it comes to the most expensive and cheapest local authorities to purchase a home, the borough of Kensington and Chelsea retains the crown as the most expensive local authority in the UK in 2025 with an average house price of £1,071,600, ten times more expensive than the cheapest local authority of Inverclyde, which has an average house price of £109,400. 

Outside of London, Elmbridge in Surrey takes the top spot with average house prices of £705,800, followed by South Buckinghamshire - home to the UK’s least affordable town, Beaconsfield - with average house prices of £671,400.

Table 4: Most and least expensive local authorities to purchase a home in 2025

Source: Zoopla

Moving to the rental market, local authorities in London again dominate the most expensive list with the borough of Kensington and Chelsea the UK’s most expensive place to rent a home with an average rent of £3,531 pcm, over 2.5 times the UK average of £1,318. 

Hartlepool in the North East retains the top spot as the cheapest place to rent a property in 2025 with an average rent of £578 pcm. This was followed by the Scottish local authorities of East Ayrshire (£602 pcm) and Dumfries and Galloway (£615 pcm). 

Table 5: Most and least expensive local authorities to rent a home in 2025

Source: Zoopla

From Shetland to Cornwall: Britain’s most northern and southern property sales

The property sold the furthest north in the UK in 2025 was Easter House, a cosy two-bed bungalow on the island of Unst, Britain’s most northerly inhabited island and part of the Shetland Islands. Listed for £85,000, the property benefits from uninterrupted countryside views and buckets of character, with exposed beans and an original stone fireplace.

At the opposite end of the country, a three-bed terraced house on St Mary’s, the largest of the Isles of Scilly in Cornwall, was the most southerly property sold on Zoopla in 2025. Listed for £1,200,000, Vine Cottage provides harbour views just moments from the water’s edge with easy access to local shops and restaurants. As a Grade II listed property originally built in 1820 as a shipbuilder’s cottage, the home is truly a slice of seaside history. 

What’s next for the housing market in 2025?

Following a period of hesitance in the UK housing market amidst property tax speculation in the run up to the Autumn Budget, Zoopla expects to see a boost in momentum heading into 2026. Potential buyers in the £500,000-£2,000,000 bracket will be breathing a sigh of relief and re-entering the property market, and as a result Zoopla expects a steady year ahead, with sales remaining around 1.15 million, consistent with 2025. Mortgage lending is expected to stay competitive, and first-time buyers should prioritise understanding their affordability as the first step in their home-buying journey.