10
Feb
Busiest ever month on Rightmove as market sees confidence return
Visits to Rightmove surpassed 150 million for the first time on
Rightmove in January, making it the busiest month ever recorded as
home-hunters looked to take advantage of a more certain political
outlook.
There were over 152 million visits to Rightmove in January, a 7%
increase on January 2019. The previous record for the busiest month
was last set back in May 2019.
The top five busiest days ever on Rightmove were all between
21st and 29th January, with Wednesday 29th topping the list. There
were over 5.7 million visits on that day, up 9% on the previous
record set back on 24th April 2019.
Time spent by home hunters on the site was up 4%, with people
spending a total of 1.17 billion minutes.
The number of sales being agreed by agents was up 12% compared
to the same month in 2019, the biggest year-on-year jump in any
month since July 2017. London saw the biggest uplift, up 26%
year-on-year, followed by the East of England, up 20%.
Rightmove’s property expert Miles Shipside said:
“Home-movers have sprung into action in 2020, with a large
number of agents telling us that sales and valuations have picked
up significantly in their local areas. There’s still an
imbalance, with demand growing at a faster rate than new supply and
no clear sign yet of any uplift in new listings compared to this
time last year, but we could see a new wave of sellers in the
coming weeks.
“The annual jump in sales agreed numbers is the highest
we’ve seen in any month since the summer of 2017, which saw a
significant uplift compared to summer 2016 because of the
short-term dip in activity immediately after the Brexit vote. The
stage certainly looks set for an active spring if those sellers
considering putting their homes up for sale end up doing so, but to
catch this wave of buyer momentum sellers should take care not to
over-price their homes. It’s still a price sensitive market
and there’s a limit to what buyers can borrow even though
mortgage interest rates are temptingly low.”