Gloucester Property Market – May 2025 Report

Fueled by lower mortgage rates and increased availability, last month was the busiest May for property sales agreed since 2021, and the busiest out of any month since March 2022, the latest insights from Rightmove has revealed. 

 

Average asking prices in Gloucester reached £265,632 - with Gloucestershire being £404,502 - whilst the average time taken to agree a sale on a property stands at 52 days in Gloucester compared to 64 across the South-West. 

 

In May, 425 new properties were added to the market for sale, compared to 397 twelve months ago. The split of these by property type was as follows: 

31% - Semi-Detached Houses 

27% - Detached Houses 

19% - Flats/Apartments 

17% - Terraced Houses 

6% - Bungalows 

 

Whilst sales agreed figures across the UK were up 5% in May on 2024, the figures in Gloucester showed just a very slight increase to 352 from 347 for the same period a year earlier. 

 

Bearing in mind the increased availability, this serves as a clear reminder that sensible pricing remains key if you are to realise your home moving dreams. 

 

At the end of May there was no fewer than a thousand properties currently available for sale across GL1, GL2, GL3 and GL4. Of these, 559 had been for sale for at least 8 weeks, 404 had been on the market for 12 weeks or more, and 301 had been on the market for a minimum of 16 weeks. 

 

It is interesting to note that homes which need a reduction in price during marketing can take over two months longer to find a buyer and are more likely to achieve a lower sale price eventually than those properties priced sensibly to start with. 

 

Recent data from Rightmove shows that there has been a 32% increase in the number of sellers who have swapped estate agent to try and find a buyer, reflecting the high market competition and the frustration of some owners that their homes aren’t selling, a process made much harder by setting an over-optimistic price to begin with. 

 

There are 10 estate agents covering the Gloucester area who each have at least 30 unsold properties on their books, with some of these well more than double and in some cases triple this number. If I was a seller with one of these agents, I would seriously be wondering whether I am truly a valued client or merely just a number! 

 

As always, the mortgage market saw plenty of activity, with a further base rate cut at the beginning of the month, followed by some lenders then increasing their mortgage rates in light of higher-than-expected inflation figures. The return of 100% mortgages is an interesting development, but tighter lending requirements should ensure that the mistakes made around these products previously are avoided. The average five-year fixed mortgage rate is now 4.61%, compared with 6.11% at the peak in July 2023.