Rightmove says that it recorded its busiest ever day on Wednesday 17th May, surpassing 8.5 million visits for the first time, overtaking the record set on 8th July last year.
Search is turning into action with record levels of email and telephone leads sent via Rightmove in February so far up 22% compared with the same month last year in a sign that many are planning a move regardless of the stamp duty holiday. In addition, the number of renters contacting agents is up by 39%.
New research conducted by the property portal about UK home-movers’ intentions has uncovered a lack of suitable properties as the biggest reason putting home-owners off selling their home right now, with a third – 33% – of people who are planning to sell later in the year saying this is the reason they are delaying.
Other key reasons are waiting until lockdown is over – 22% – while 24% want to know if the stamp duty holiday is going to be extended or not.
This latest data shows there are 21% fewer new properties coming to market than this time last year.
Of those currently in the process of moving or planning to move this year, 21% are worried they will not complete in time to make use of the stamp duty holiday if it does come to an end on 31 March.
A bigger group of 37% say the stamp duty holiday was not a factor in their decision to move, while 16% say they are likely to pull out of the sale if they do not complete in time to make use of the stamp duty savings.
Rightmove’s property expert Tim Bannister said: “Despite all of the uncertainty right now, there are clear signs from buyers that they want to move home in the UK this year. Our traffic levels are on a par with the mini-boom from last summer, and July’s busiest ever day last year has been replaced by a lockdown day in February.
“Now that we have some clarity on what the roadmap out of lockdown could look like we expect to see more people putting their home on the market. This should help open up more choice in the market to satisfy the strong buyer demand we’re seeing.
“I’ve heard a number of stories of people falling in love with their dream home, only to find it takes time to sell their own one and so lose out on their move. I do completely understand the thinking that home-owners want to find somewhere first, but in the current competitive market if they already have their property up for sale it means when they do find that dream home they’ll have a much better chance of having their offer accepted.
“People will be eager to hear what the chancellor decides to do to stamp duty in the budget next week and there are clearly a number of people who are worried about missing the current deadline, but our research shows there are also a large group who do not see this as a factor in deciding to move this year.”
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