Bigger than usual New Year bounce

While it's still early days, our latest House Price Index gives some reasons for positivity at the start of 2023.

While buyer demand is down by a third versus last year's buoyant market, it's up 4% versus this time in 2019.

Plus, there's been a bigger than usual New Year bounce-back in activity, marking a much more encouraging start to the year than many anticipated.

Biggest post-Xmas bounce in enquiries since 2016
At the beginning of 2023, the number of prospective buyers contacting agents is up 4% compared to the same period in 2019, and up by 55% compared with the two weeks before Christmas. 

Average asking prices up month-on-month
Although average asking prices are still £8,720 lower than their peak in October, after two months of falls, they have increased by 0.9% (+£3,301) this month. This is the biggest increase at this time of year since 2020. 

Surge in home valuation requests
The 5th January saw the number of people sending a request to an estate agent to value their home, at it's third largest on record. In total the first week of 2023 was the busiest for home valuation requests since August 2022. 

“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.”

Tim Bannister Rightmove’s Director of Property Science