By Laura McGuire
House prices made their biggest month-on-month leap from December to January since the pandemic, rising by 1.3 per cent to £359k.
Analysts at Rightmove, who conducted the reading, said the jump gave a “tentatively promising” start to the new year but cautioned that prices are still 0.7 per cent lower than at this time last year.
In London, house prices contracted by four per cent on a monthly basis, with the average cost of a home now £664k.
Buyer demand in the first week of 2024 is also five per cent higher than last year, however, the number of new properties coming to market is still outpacing the rise in demand.
Rightmove said the number of sales agreed is 20 per cent higher than during the first week of last year, as falling mortgage rates have lifted the spirits of prospective buyers.
January kickstarted with a mortgage price war as a slew of high street lenderslowered their deals to below four per cent.
Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property science said today’s reading indicated a return of confidence when “compared with the unsettled post-mini-Budget period”.
He said: “The number of properties coming to market for sale is also 15 per cent higher than at the start of last year, following a record number of sellers launching on Rightmove on Boxing Day.
“The North East and South West have seen the greatest addition of new choice for the increased number of new buyers. There remains no glut of homes for sale, with the total number of available properties just one per cent above the more normal market levels of 2019.”
