New property listings surged before Easter, says Rightmove

4th Apr 2024 10:08

(Sharecast News) - The number of people selling their homes in the UK surged over Easter, according to new data from Rightmove, with the property portal seeing its busiest day for new listings so far this year.

Rightmove said on Friday that 28 March was the biggest day for new sellers coming to market, and the third biggest day for new listings since August 2020.

Some 45% more homes were added to the portal on 28 March compared with the Thursday the week before, which Rightmove said was a result of sellers trying to take advantage of people spending more time searching for houses over the bank holidays on Good Friday and Easter Monday.

"A huge number of new sellers came to market as we all geared up for the Easter break, all hoping to capture the attention of those buyers using the long weekend to home hunt alongside their Easter egg hunts," said Rightmove's property expert Tim Banniester.

"It's still a price-sensitive market, so while the uptick in activity we've seen over the past few months is a positive sign, sellers still need to heed the advice from their agent on pricing competitively to help secure a successful sale."

Asking prices in March were up just 0.8% on last year at an average of £368,118 across Great Britain, but stand 18% higher than pre-pandemic levels as of March 2020.

However, the national average masks big regional price variations: asking prices in Wales, the North West, and Yorkshire and The Humber are now 29%, 28% and 26% higher than March 2020 respectively; while prices in London are up just 8%.