Rightmove has revealed that homes listed for sale during February and March are statistically the most likely to find a buyer than during any other month.

The portal’s latest data release reveals that two thirds of all homes that begin marketing this and next month go on to complete, based on data collected since 2012.

February also has the joint quickest time to find a buyer on average historically, alongside January, at 51 days for a typical home to find a buyer, closely followed by March and April at 52 days.

Rightmove also claims that the next two best months for property sales are January and April, and says this year is shaping up to be particularly positive for agents with year-on-year buyer demand already 8% up and the number of sales having increased by 15%.

“These insights should make for encouraging reading for anyone thinking of listing their home for sale soon, as well as anyone who has already come to market this year,” says Steve Pimblett, Chief Data Officer at Rightmove.

“The Spring selling season is traditionally one of the busiest periods of the year for agents, and the signs of buyer activity we’ve been seeing are setting the scene for a positive one this year.”

Stamp Duty

What Rightmove doesn’t tackle in its report is the likely disruption to the 2025 market when Stamp Duty rates for first time buyers end in April across England and NI, and Stuart Collar-Brown, President of auction trade body NAVA Propertymark, predicts many first time buyers will be using auctions during the coming weeks as the deadline looms in the hope of completing before the rate goes up.

His counterpart Toby Leek at NAEA Propertymark makes the point: “2025 is defying usual seasonal trends as we see a spike in activity across the board,” he says.

“People will likely be pushing to complete before rises in Stamp Duty commence in April across England and Northern Ireland; however, anyone who hasn’t already started the home buying and selling process may find it very difficult to do so as the average time taken to complete on a property stands at around 15 weeks.”