Property Portal Insight Into UK Housing Market

With Rightmove being the leading property portal across the nation, it is worth paying attention to what they say about the market.

At Prestige & Village, we pay attention to what our clients say, and we follow the latest news and research from the leading players in the UK housing market. Rightmove states the national average for property asking prices stands at £336,073.

There is a lot to take in when it comes to the UK housing market

Some of the key highlights according to Rightmove are as follows:

With the first half of 2021 seeing 140,000 more sales being agreed and 85,000 fewer new listings than the long-term average, this surge in activity has revealed a shortfall of 225,000 homes for sale which, if available, would have corrected this stark imbalance between supply and demand, and would have stabilised price growth:

Homes with four beds and more facing biggest imbalance with 39% surge in sales and 15% fall in numbers coming to market versus 2019, resulting in an average price hike of 6.7% in the last six months
Mass-market three bed sector sees 28% jump in sales while suffering 10% drop in new supply versus 2019, with prices jumping up by 6.9% so far in 2021
First-time buyers faring best as sector of two beds and fewer has unchanged new seller numbers with sales up by a slightly smaller 26%, resulting in a smaller average price rise of 3.4% for the half year

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s Director of Property Data, comments: “We predict that the number of completed sales will be the highest ever seen in a single month when June’s data is released by HMRC later this week. This means it’s likely that the first half of 2021 has seen a record number of moves when compared with the first six months of any other year, induced by the pandemic’s side-effect of a new focus on what one’s home needs to provide. That is one of the driving forces behind four consecutive months of new record average property prices. Demand has also been boosted by the ongoing creation of new households, and property being seen as an asset to hold, with historically low returns from many other forms of investment. New stamp duty deadlines in England and Wales for sales completed by the end of June have also helped to exhaust the stock of property for sale and concentrate activity. This has left prospective purchasers with the lowest choice of homes for sale that we’ve ever recorded, continuing price rises, and stretched affordability.”

Homes are selling well in the market

According to the latest information provided by Rightmove, 68% of properties across Great Britain have found a buyer in the current housing market. In 2012, this figure was 41%, and the current figure is the highest percentage recorded in the past decade.

Rightmove studied information from 13 million listings, and of course, Rightmove is recognised as the leading property portal in the UK.

What do the Rightmove experts say?

Tim Bannister, director of property data at Rightmove, says: “There’s been a much greater chance of a seller finding a buyer over the past year, which really highlights the sheer number of people who have been determined to move. While the long-term average shows that typically around half of properties sell, the increase in 2021 reflects the frenzied buyer activity we’ve seen in the current market, driven by multiple factors such as pent-up demand and changing priorities.”

Tim Bannister continued by saying; “This efficiency in the market means agents are operating on limited stock, and they need more homes to satisfy all types of buyers. We’ve seen from previous research that Scotland often contains the most likely areas to find a buyer, and London the least, however the broader numbers are reflective of the trend we’ve been seeing all year, which is that buyers have widened their scope, and the popularity of every area in Great Britain is increasing.”

At Prestige & Village, we care about our community, and supporting others. We aim to provide you with as much help and assistance as we can. If you have any property or housing questions, please feel free to contact us today.