Nationally, the market is subdued but stable rather than either booming or falling. Halifax’s index shows UK house prices up around 0.5% year-on-year to May 2026, while Nationwide’s figure runs a little higher at roughly 1.7%. Neither lender is describing a fast-moving market — mortgage rate cuts have helped affordability at the margins, but higher inflation expectations have kept borrowing costs elevated enough to keep overall demand fairly measured.
Preston itself has outpaced even the wider North West figure. ONS data put the average Preston house price at £190,000 in April 2026 (provisional), up 10.6% year-on-year — comfortably ahead of the North West’s own regional growth rate over the same period. First-time buyers paid an average of £167,000 in April 2026, also up 10.6% on the year, while semi-detached properties specifically rose 11.5% — the strongest-performing property type in the city. Flats grew more modestly, up 4.9%.
The rental market has moved in step: private rents in Preston reached an average of £782 in May 2026, up 7.2% annually. For landlords, that’s a genuinely strong twelve months of rental growth; for tenants, it’s a reminder that rental affordability pressure hasn’t gone away just because purchase prices have kept climbing.
Liverpool tells a different but equally interesting story. The city’s average house price — around £185,000 — remains substantially below both the England figure (roughly 37% lower) and the North West regional average (around 15% lower), which continues to support some of the strongest rental yields in the UK, commonly quoted in the 7–7.5% range in the city’s better-performing areas.
What’s changing that picture is regeneration. Everton’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock opened for the 2025/26 season and is forecast to deliver a £1.3 billion economic boost and around 15,000 jobs, anchoring a wider North Liverpool regeneration zone expected to bring over 10,000 new homes to areas like Vauxhall, Pumpfields and Ten Streets. Separately, Peel L&P’s Liverpool Waters scheme began construction on its Central Docks phase in late 2025. Early 2026 forecasts suggest the neighbourhoods closest to these schemes could see price growth of 4–6% this year, notably ahead of the roughly 3% expected citywide — a gap worth watching for anyone assessing an investment purchase in the city.
The published figures line up closely with what our surveyors are encountering day to day across Lancashire and Merseyside in 2026:
Valuations are needing more local nuance than a simple postcode-average would suggest. Preston’s strong semi-detached growth in particular means comparable evidence needs picking carefully — a semi that sold eight months ago is not necessarily a reliable comparable today given the pace of movement in that specific property type.
Landlord instructions are increasingly compliance-driven. With the Renters’ Rights Act now in force and the EPC C deadline for rented property confirmed for 2030, we’re seeing a rise in valuation and condition-report instructions from landlords getting ahead of both — assessing where a property currently sits against the Decent Homes Standard and what an EPC upgrade programme would realistically cost, rather than waiting for enforcement to force the question.
Liverpool investment enquiries are increasingly regeneration-specific. Rather than general city-wide interest, we’re seeing valuation and survey instructions clustering specifically around the North Docks and Baltic Triangle areas — a reasonably direct reflection of where the Bramley-Moore Dock and Liverpool Waters schemes are drawing attention.
New-build snagging enquiries have picked up. With a genuine wave of new residential stock arriving across both Preston’s newer developments and Liverpool’s waterfront schemes, Condition Report instructions specifically focused on recent-build snagging issues have become a noticeably larger share of our residential survey work than a couple of years ago.
If you’re buying in Preston, the strength of recent growth means it’s worth getting an independent valuation rather than relying solely on an estate agent’s asking price, particularly for semi-detached stock where prices have moved fastest. If you’re a landlord anywhere in the region, 2026’s regulatory changes are not optional extras to deal with eventually — get a property condition assessment now rather than after a council enforcement notice. And if you’re considering an investment purchase in Liverpool specifically, the gap between citywide and regeneration-zone growth forecasts makes an accurate, independent valuation particularly valuable before you commit.
Wignalls’ RICS-registered surveyors and valuers work across Preston, Lancashire and Merseyside every week, and this report reflects what we’re actually seeing in that work rather than a desk-based summary of national headlines. If you’d like a read on your specific area or property, get in touch with our team.
Sources: Halifax House Price Index (May 2026); Nationwide House Price Index (May 2026); ONS UK House Price Index (April 2026, provisional); Rightmove House Price Index (May 2026); NRLA and GOV.UK guidance on the Renters’ Rights Act 2026 and EPC/MEES requirements; published regeneration figures for Bramley-Moore Dock and Liverpool Waters schemes.
© Wignalls Chartered Surveyors 2026
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