The Datum Report

Standing view · housing · Babergh

The housing market in Babergh has been losing ground.

deteriorating, held with strong confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2026-07.

Households in temporary accommodation with children in Babergh rose to 23 in the first quarter of 2026, and 22 of the households owed a prevention duty had been served a no-fault eviction notice, also rising. In the same quarter 92 households were owed a prevention duty. Rents were close to flat over the same months: a two-bedroom home cost £919 in March 2026, £921 in April, £923 in May and £921 in June, with a three-bedroom home at £1,113 in July. The pressure shows in the homelessness figures rather than in rents.

How this was decided

A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about Babergh. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.

The 2 measures that formed this view

MeasurePeriodDirection
Households in temporary accommodation with children2026-Q1deteriorating
Prevention duty, section 21 notice2026-Q1deteriorating

Also published on this topic, but not counted

These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.

MeasurePeriodSeries
Prevention duty owed2026-Q1
Average private rent, two bedrooms2026-03
Average private rent, two bedrooms2026-04
Average private rent, two bedrooms2026-05
Average private rent, two bedrooms2026-06
Average private rent, three bedrooms2026-07