It was the busiest ever January for those wanting to move home, with buyer demand soaring compared to the same period last year.
Rightmove said buyer demand was up 16% compared to last January, when the pandemic discouraged many movers.
Buyer enquiries about homes for sale also jumped 24% compared to January 2020, and 41% compared to 2019.
In the rental market, tenant demand is 17% higher than last January, and 33% higher than January 2020.
Despite strong sustained demand from buyers, there are early signs of a better-balanced market over the course of 2022.
The number of new homes coming to the market for sale increased 10% in the two weeks of January compared to the same time last year.
In addition, the number of enquiries from potential sellers to estate agents to value their home, often the first step in putting a home up for sale, is at a record for January.
Valuation requests to estate agents increased by 27% compared to January last year, 53% compared to 2020, and 52% compared to 2019.
Rightmove says it also recorded over 218 million visits to its site and apps, the highest number during a January. Visits rose 3% compared to 2021, itself a frenetic year, and 44% compared to 2020.
Rightmove’s director of property data Tim Bannister said: “We know that January is typically one of the busiest months for agents, with both buyers and sellers aiming to start the new year with plans for a new home, but even for a January, agents are reporting this will go down as one of the busiest ever.
“Strong buyer demand at the beginning of the year, even higher than that of January last year, shows us that people are still evaluating their needs and where they want to live, as they consider factors such as space, or returning to the office.
“The jump in new properties coming to the market over the last two weeks is a positive sign that there will be more choice to meet this demand during 2022, and the significant jump in valuation requests in the month compared to previous years, signals that there could be even more choice to come in the near future.”
Busiest for valuations because most of the portals have created instant valuation buttons, which some estate agents actually think are genuine valuations but are in fact, most of the time, just tyre kickers!
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We’ve had a busy start in fairness, though you’re not wrong. How s#!t is the Boomin “smart val” by the way?
Begrudge losing out on a valuation lead, but time and time again the Boomin valuation leads are all an absolute waste of time. Yet again another portal that doesn’t give a flying fu– about agents. The whole 15 minutes cr@p is intolerable and insulting. Apologies; as you can see, the concept gets be irate.
This is a genuine response from a Boomin valuation lead from a property owner:
“Sorry I’m not interesting in selling. I was just seeing what boomin was like and it’s pretty c**p.
Please remove me from your list.”
The only legitimate valuation leads out there come from GetAgent in my experience.
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