Rightmove report that visits to its website surpassed 150 million for the first time in January 2020, making it the busiest month ever recorded and they suggest that home-hunters are looking to take advantage of a more certain political outlook.

At Harvey Scott we have noticed considerably more activity and a good number of market appraisal valuations are being carried across our area. Please call us for a free market appraisal, complete our online contact form or take a look at our free Valuation Tool.

Read more about the Rightmove story below;

With over 152 million visits to Rightmove in January, that marks 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 21^st and 29^th January, with Wednesday 29^th topping the list. There were over 5.7 million visits on that day, up 9% on the previous record set back on 24^th 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%.

Sales agreed is when a property is marked 'under offer' or 'sold subject to contract' on Rightmove.

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.”