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Homes selling and renting like ‘hotcakes’ says latest Rightmove index

Portal says January was its busiest ever for agent enquiries and that first signs of housing market rebalancing are emerging.

Nigel Lewis

rightmove

Latest market data from Rightmove suggests strongly that the boom in the housing market seen last year is continuing into 2022.

The portal reports that January was its busiest for the month ever for enquiries to sales agents and up 16% on January 2020 and 41% on 2019, while lettings enquiries leapt by 17% and 33% respectively.

Despite many agents reporting ongoing problems with supply, particularly in London, Rightmove says its data points to a more balanced market emerging as the ‘Spring bounce’ looms, with 10% more sales properties coming onto the market during the last two weeks of last month, and instructions enquiries ramping up by 27% compared to the same month last year, and 52% compared to 2020.

Traffic to its site was also at record levels – 218 million visits to its site and apps.

“We know that January is typically one of the busiest months for agents, with both buyers and sellers aiming to start the new year with plans for a new home, but even for a January, agents are reporting this will go down as one of the busiest ever,” says Tim Bannister, its Director of Property Data.

One of its member agents, Richard Freshwater of Cheffins (pictured), says his firm has seen double the number of property valuations than in 2021 or 2020, and houses are selling like ‘hotcakes’ with 30-40 viewings requests per property across all sectors.

“Hopefully there might be more breathing room as more houses become available to buy,” he adds.

“Many people who were considering selling perhaps a year or so ago but put their move on hold, mainly due to Covid, now appear to be looking to get on with their lives and make the jump to selling up.”

February 4, 2022

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