It’s the February half-term holiday, 2026 – so that means busy.
You just know that Discovery Planet at Surrey Quays will be enjoying packed crowds of (very) excited children, the holiday club at the Velodrome will be in full swing, and if you head to Brockwell Park you’ll find that, despite the endless drizzle, the adventure play area, football pitches, tennis courts and café will all be full of life!
But if you’re currently selling your home in Herne Hill, can you expect things to feel just as busy? Or is February half-term one of those quieter periods, like the Easter break can be, and like the Summer and Christmas holidays almost always are?
Here are our thoughts as independent local estate agents in SE24.
There is good news as we hit the February half-term break. In bigger picture terms, the property market is broadly positive.
House prices continued their upward trend in January, with Halifax reporting rising UK property values – and, notably, that they have risen above £300,000 for the first time, reaching £300,077 in January on a 12-month average, per the Halifax Price Index.
Here’s what else the Halifax Index in January 2026 has shown:
What is interesting is that average UK property prices rose from £239,253 in January 2020 to £300,077 in January 2026 – an increase of just over 25% in six years.
Also noteworthy is that the price increase from 2020 to 2023 was 18.7%, compared with the 5.7% increase from 2023 to 2026.
Growth in the past three years, yes; but much more muted than the previous three – and certainly behind inflation. Possibly a sign of prices that had risen too quickly, correcting.
At the same time, last week’s vote by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee was closer than many expected, reflecting ongoing concerns about subdued economic performance.
This may not be great news for the wider economy, but it does, in our view, reopen the possibility of a base rate cut in March, which markets had begun to discount.
Fixed mortgage rates have been edging up again recently, just slightly, following swap rates, which had suggested the market was pricing out near-term cuts.
Perhaps that tension is playing on rate setters’ minds.
For local buyers and sellers, this matters. In areas like ours, where affordability tightens quickly when rates rise, you can be sure we’ll be keeping a very close eye on it and how it affects you.
Which brings us tidily to what probably matters more to you: what about the property market and property prices in Herne Hill?
Here in SE24, average property prices over 12 months currently stand at £837,395, down 9% since last January, according to Rightmove figures.
The trend is similar if we look solely at Herne Hill – the 12-month average property sale price is £756,108, down 11% over the past year, according to Rightmove.
This is the context we need to consider when discussing your move locally, whether you’re selling, buying, or simply keeping tabs on your home’s value.
It goes to show that whatever is being reported in national news headlines, or revealed by national indices, can be very different from the pictures seen in any local marketplace; however, in particular, the London, South East and East of England markets have been much more subdued, price-wise, than markets in the North of England and the Midlands.
So why did I say earlier that market news is broadly positive?
House prices alone don’t necessarily indicate whether a market is moving in a positive direction.
When you look at the overall 25% increase over six years, you can understand that properties in general have plenty of equity in them. In fact, whether we have seen a 9% or 11% drop here, depending if we look at SE24 or Herne Hill specifically, over the past year, the overall growth we saw here over not just the past six years, but even for many decades, has been so significant that local sellers can afford to take a reduction this year and still make a comfortable move – especially if they are moving locally or to many locations overseas where the released equity may convert favourably on current currency exchange rates.
It feels like a loose statement, but nobody likes to lose money. That said, most people understand that values are relative. As long as there isn’t a negative equity situation, most movers can think of it as transferring equity from one property to another.
In other words, if a seller has lost 9% of value in their home this year, but so has the property they are purchasing, there is usually no financial reason the move can’t proceed.
It may depend on mortgage rates, which is why what the MPC votes to do next month is of interest, but generally speaking, it is much more a matter of market confidence.
And that is where the local market is showing real strength, despite anything that prices may have done over the past year.
If you are moving home locally, there are definitely encouraging signs that the Herne Hill market is coming to life as we hit the half-term break.
At the time of writing, Rightmove shows 28 new listings in Herne Hill over the past two weeks alone, with 138 properties currently for sale overall. This is a healthy level of choice for buyers in general, but that two-week number in particular is another sign of steady market activity.
But will the February half-term holiday week dampen that rising activity? As mentioned, other holiday periods are known to have that stifling effect on property market activity – Christmas and Summer in particular. But historically, this half-term week in February does not tend to have that same effect.
There will be a bit of holiday-making going on – particularly amongst the skiers out there – but most people stay at home during this particular break, perhaps with children off school, but nevertheless not so distracted from life as they often are during those other major holidays.
On top of this, the property market itself is still in that active phase following the post-Christmas/early New Year bounce that we have written about previously (see article here); those who put their Herne Hill property for sale as part of a ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ drive in early January are starting to go under offer in numbers by around this point, five or six weeks later – and many of them are purchasing another property to move to.
This only adds to the swelling number of active buyers who begin their search at around this time, with the idea of a Springtime or early summer move in mind.
So, with listing numbers growing, but competition from other buyers also increasing, if you are buying a property in Herne Hill right now, it pays to have a plan.
If you are heading out to view properties this half-term, our strongest piece of advice is to get crystal clear on what you need, what you want (as these can be different), and the reasons you might truly want to be in one particular location rather than another.
That matters far more than the pretty pictures you’ll scroll through online. They can draw you in – but knowing ‘what, where and why’ helps us as professional estate agents truly get to grips with what would work for you, and what could be made to work. You want four bedrooms because you want a dedicated study? You might be missing out on an ideal home with only three bedrooms, but it has a perfectly sized shed at the end of the garden that could be easily converted.
This is why talking through your requirements with a professional is a good first step. It doesn’t mean any obligation, but from our point of view as agents, it means we can be on the lookout for the right property when we are invited to meet potential sellers.
Finding the right property isn’t a tick-box exercise. It’s about finding somewhere that genuinely fits your next chapter – and that is what we want to help people achieve.
We are required by law to conduct anti-money laundering checks on all those selling or buying a property. Whilst we retain responsibility for ensuring checks and any ongoing monitoring are carried out correctly, the initial checks are carried out on our behalf by Lifetime Legal who will contact you once you have agreed to instruct us in your sale or had an offer accepted on a property you wish to buy. The cost of these checks is £60 (incl. VAT), which covers the cost of obtaining relevant data and any manual checks and monitoring which might be required. This fee will need to be paid by you in advance of us publishing your property (in the case of a vendor) or issuing a memorandum of sale (in the case of a buyer), directly to Lifetime Legal, and is non-refundable. We will receive some of the fee taken by Lifetime Legal to compensate for its role in the provision of these checks.