Busiest ever start to a New Year in January’s House Price Index

Early-bird sellers benefit from busiest ever start to a New Year 2021’s housing market was defined by people’s sustained desire to move coupled with decreasing numbers of homes for sale, and this continues as we enter a busy New Year.

The average price of property coming to market jumps by 0.3% this month (+£852) to £341,019, which is 7.6% higher than in January 2021, the highest annual rate of price growth recorded by Rightmove since May 2016.

First-time buyer asking prices hit a new record of £214,176 after a monthly jump of 1.4%.

Strong demand and continuing low numbers of available homes for sale set up the housing market frenzy to continue into the start of 2022, with early-bird sellers benefitting from increased buyer competition:

The number of buyers enquiring about homes is 15% higher than the same time last year
The number of available homes for sale per estate agency branch drops again to a new record low of just 12
As a result, competition among buyers is almost double what it was at this time last year.

However, there are early signs that more property choice is on its way, with the first working week of 2022 being the busiest start of the year ever for people requesting agents to come out and value their homes:

The number of home valuation requests in the first working week of 2022 is 44% up on the same period last year, and 48% up on the same period in 2020

Overview

2021’s housing market was defined by people’s sustained desire to move coupled with decreasing numbers of homes for sale, and this continues as we enter a busy New Year. The average price of property coming to market rises by 0.3% this month (+£852), to £341,019. Asking prices traditionally see a rise in January, though this month’s figure is compared with an unusual drop in January last year as the rush to beat the March stamp duty deadline started to abate. The result is that national average asking prices are now 7.6% higher than this time last year, an annual rate of growth not seen by Rightmove since the 8.3% recorded back in May 2016. The jump in average asking prices this month is driven by homes in the ”top of the ladder” and “first-time buyer” sectors, with first-time-buyer type homes hitting a new record average asking price of £214,176.

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