Activity in the UK housing market picked up at the start of the year, Rightmove says, with cautious expectations of the lift continuing.

It is early days, but the property portal says that there are some signs of positivity in the first few weeks of the year, with the number of prospective buyers contacting agents up 4% compared to the same period in 2019, and up by 55% compared with the two weeks before Christmas, the biggest New Year bounce since 2016 after the extended lull at the end of the year.

The jump in demand helped to push up average new seller asking prices by 0.9%, or £3,301) this month, the biggest increase at this time of year since 2020 as New Year sellers test the market, the property platform said. However, average asking prices are still £8,720 lower than their peak in October.

The latest data also shows that the number of enquirers is down by a third compared to the buoyant market of this time last year.

Would-be sellers jumped  into action with 5th January the third busiest day ever for people asking agents to come out and value their home, an early sign of confidence for the year ahead.

However, average monthly mortgage payments for hard-pressed first-time buyers continue to fall as mortgage interest rates soften, with some deals now on offer below 5%.

Rightmove’s Tim Bannister said: “These statistics based on the largest sample of any UK housing report give reasons for some positivity at the beginning of 2023. Given that the pause for Christmas came unexpectedly early last year, it was important to see whether buyers and sellers would pick up their plans again at the beginning of this year, or wait to see what the first few months might bring.

“The numbers certainly suggest that activity has bounced back after Christmas and agents will now be busy trying to match the likely revised expectations of buyers and sellers as we move towards the important spring season.

“We expect that the full effect of affordability constraints and last year’s mortgage rate rises will hold back some segments of the market in the first half of the year, but our leading market indicators may start to identify some green shoots of growth that will go on to strengthen in the second half of 2023.”