Home Commercial Property House buying boom hits a record £37bn for July

House buying boom hits a record £37bn for July

by LLP Finance Reporter
17th Aug 20 10:16 am

Rightmove’s latest house price index shows that the number of monthly sales agreed this month is the highest ever measured since it started tracking the data ten years ago.

The data shows that home movers have put more property on the market and have agreed more sales than in any month for over ten years, worth a record total of over £37bn.

The number of agreed sales is up by 38% on the prior year, and a massive 20% higher than the previous record set in March 2017.

This is leading to monthly price increases in ten out of twelve regions, with a record high in new seller asking prices in seven of those regions. Prices usually fall at this time of year, as sellers try to tempt holiday distracted buyers, with the national average monthly fall for the last ten years being 1.2%. While there is a slight monthly fall of 0.2%, Rightmove says this is due to London’s more normal seasonal fall of 2.0%, reversing what would otherwise have been an unseasonal national rise.

Rightmove says the increase in activity is not just a result of the stamp duty holiday, as sales agreed are up across all sectors of the market. They’re up 29% in the first-time buyer sector, 38% in the second stepper sector and 59% for larger, top of the ladder homes. Momentum is still building, with the latest weekly figure for the number of sales agreed having shot up by 60% compared to the same week a year ago.

As part of the home moving circle, home-owners are bringing more properties to market than in any month since 2008, giving more choice to buyers. There are 44% more properties coming to market compared to the same period a year ago, though there are considerable regional variations.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst said, “There have been many changes as a result of the unprecedented pandemic, and these include a rewriting of the previously predictable seasonal rulebook for housing market activity and prices.

“Home movers are both marketing and buying more property than we have recorded in any previous month for over ten years, helping push prices to their highest ever level in seven regions. Rather than just a release of existing pent-up demand due to the suspension of the housing market during lockdown, there’s an added layer of additional demand due to people’s changed housing priorities after the experience of lockdown.

“This is also keeping up the momentum of the unexpected mini-boom, which is now going longer and faster. We associate this time of year with diving into the pool rather than the property market, and of sand and sun rather than bricks and mortar, but buyers have had a record £37 billion monthly spending spree.

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