Home » News » Housing Market » Rightmove predicts ‘boom’ Spring market as sales agreed leap by 12.3%
Housing Market

Rightmove predicts ‘boom’ Spring market as sales agreed leap by 12.3%

The portal says all the indicators point to a return of confidence among buyers this month but warns agents not to let vendors get carried away.

Nigel Lewis

Confidence is returning to the housing market for the first time in over 12 months and vendors face one of the best property selling prospects seen in several years, says Rightmove.

The portal’s monthly market report says a house price boom is in the offing as the Spring sales market approaches and that house prices are due to increase by 0.8% this month or by £2,589 per property, only £40 short of an all-time high.

Also, agreed sales are already up year-on-year by 12.3% and by 26.4% in London, and that increasing activity within the market will lead to a series further house price increases in the coming months as buyer demand outstrips the number of homes for sale.

“This means that spring buyers are likely to be faced with the highest average asking prices ever seen in Britain,” sales Rightmove’s housing market analyst Miles Shipside.

“Buyers who had been hesitating and waiting for the greater political certainty following the election outcome may be paying a higher price, but they can now jump into the spring market with renewed confidence.

“After three and a half years of Brexit uncertainty, dither, and delay, many now seem to have the 2020 vision that this is the year to satisfy their pent-up housing needs.”

This follows Rightmove’s bullish predictions in December that house prices are due to rise by 4% this year.

Miles Shipside Rightmove imageBut Shipside (left) warns agents to temper vendors’ requests to increase their asking prices because the market recovery, with Brexit yet to happen, remaining fragile.

Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, agrees: “It is clear that the market remains largely dictated by sentiment.

“Our own agents are reporting that the vast majority of buyers remain unwilling to increase their budgets.

“Accordingly, our advice remains that sellers need to remain pragmatic on price, particularly given some of the uncertainty around an impending budget, the first of the new Government.”

The the Rightmove house price report in full.

February 17, 2020

One comment

  1. Miles Shipside gives good advice, but having been with a prospective vendor last week during a market appraisal with one of my clients, I witnessed the propensity of vendors wanting a higher marketing figure.

    Having gone through a full presentation to the vendor including numerous comparables as to a correct marketing value, the vendor still wanted to enter the market at 9.5% higher than the figure recommended.

    Which brings me back to the old chestnut – agents overvalue – when in reality some vendors who are not highly motivated on moving seek to play the market. Leaving the agent with two options. On this occasion the property did not come to the market.

    Paradoxically, the vendor totally understood that their value was not correct, but as they were not in a hurry they wanted to give it a go, and reduce later.

    My thoughts are, that by the time a vendor has had three agents give opinion as to the marketing price of their home, plus no doubt their own digital searches into likely value, any agent over-egging a property in order to gain the instruction may well lose the instruction rather than gain it.

    With a shortage of good stock at present by the time we hit the Spring market I think that many agents will find themselves in a similar scenario to the one I found myself in. Depressing really, but human nature is a strange thing.

What's your opinion?

Please note: This is a site for professional discussion. Comments will carry your full name and company.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.