Rightmove house price index improves following stamp duty holidays

(Sharecast News) - Rightmove's latest House Price Index showed the average price of property coming to market in July hit £320,265, while the annual rate of increase of 3.7% was the highest seen since December 2016.
July's figure represented an increase of 2.4% from the previous all-time high of £312,625 recorded in March, before activity in the housing market was put on hold as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The number of sales being agreed upon so far in July was also ahead of those recorded a year earlier across England, Wales and Scotland.

Overall buyer enquiries were an astonishing 75% higher year-on-year in the UK, with Rightmove stating that activity would likely increase even further given that Scotland has not even been open for a full month and Wales still had some housing market restrictions in place.

The number of properties coming to market was up by 11.1% year-on-year, despite Scotland and Wales not contributing for the full period, while total available stock had also somewhat recovered and was now down just 13%.

Rightmove housing market analyst Miles Shipside said: "The unexpected mini-boom continues to gather momentum as more nations reopen.

"The busy, until interrupted, spring market has now picked up where it left off and has been accelerated by both time-limited stamp duty holidays and by homeowners reappraising their homes and lifestyles because of the lockdown."

Shipside added that the market was now in full flow - with 44% of the 92,085 newly listed properties in the first month after the English market reopened having already found a buyer.

"There is a window of opportunity for sellers to come to market and to find a buyer who is tempted by the stamp duty savings," he said.

The analyst stated the immediate effect of the stamp duty cut in England was to amplify the buyer surge, with the number of sales agreed in the five days after the announcement up 35% on the same days a year earlier.

"While most first-time buyers will not benefit from the stamp duty holiday, as they were already exempt from stamp duty on purchases of up to £300,000, many will benefit from lenders now starting to bring back first-time buyer mortgages for up to 90% of the purchase price," he said.

"Lower-deposit lending helps to boost buyer activity on the all-important first rung of the ladder, which in turn helps to boost the numbers of second-steppers who are able to trade up, and so also enables others higher up the chain to move."