Rightmove has abandoned its optimistic forecast for UK house prices in 2026, replacing an earlier prediction of modest growth with a warning of outright price falls. The reversal centres on what analysts had dubbed the 'Burnham Bounce' — a wave of speculative confidence tied to Andy Burnham's rising political profile and his championing of Greater Manchester infrastructure and transport investment. Rightmove had initially factored a portion of that optimism into its national outlook, pencilling in price growth of around 4% for next year. That figure has now been slashed to a projected decline of between 1% and 2%, marking one of the portal's sharpest forecast revisions in recent memory.