Market bounces into new year with prices up – Rightmove
The Rightmove HPI shows that house prices have risen nearly 1% this month after the pre-Xmas lull.
House prices are bouncing back in the New Year after two months of falls leading up to Christmas, the Rightmove HPI reveals.
The latest House Price Index from Rightmove shows that asking prices rose 0.9% this month, which is the biggest increase since 2020.
However, average asking prices are still £8,720 lower than their peak in October.
The number of enquirers is down by a third compared to the buoyant market of this time last year, but is still up 4% compared to the same period in 2019.
It is the biggest New Year bounce since 2016, with the number of prospective buyers up by 55% compared with the two weeks before Christmas.
Third largest
On 5 January, the number of people sending a request to an estate agent to value their home was the third largest on record, an early sign of market confidence.
Tim Bannister Rightmove’s director of property science, says: “Given that the pause for Christmas came unexpectedly early last year, it was important to see whether buyers and sellers would pick up their plans again at the beginning of this year, or wait to see what the first few months might bring.
“The numbers certainly suggest that activity has bounced back after Christmas, and agents will now be busy trying to match the likely revised expectations of buyers and sellers as we move towards the important spring season.”
An uptick in post-Christmas activity was to be expected.
It will be interesting to see if it lasts.
As affordability is affected by inflation and economic uncertainty, this may be an anomaly more as a result of agents pitching for work than a sustainable trend.