First week of housing market reopening in England – the stats so far
May 29, 2020
First week in the rental market
DEMAND
- Demand for rental property is up 33% compared to this time last year as the market reopens and renters jump into action, with Monday 18th May seeing the highest level of rental demand ever recorded in one day on Rightmove
STOCK & LET AGREED
- Almost 23,000 new rental listings have come to the market since the first day of reopening, down 10% on the same week last year
- Total available stock for rent is now up 13% since before lockdown
PRICES
- Asking rents are currently up 2.1% on 2019, down from an annual rate of 3% before lockdown. They are on average £1,089 per calendar month (for all of Great Britain)
BIGGEST RISERS
- Biggest increase in rental searches compared to last year are in Rotherham (+97%), Cambridge (+77%) and St Helens (+75%)
First week in the resale market
DEMAND
- Demand for property up for sale is now down just 7% compared to this time last year, and up 120% compared to the previous week
STOCK & SALES AGREED
- Almost 11,000 new sales listings have come to the market since the first day of reopening, 65% down on the same week last year although improving from 90% down during lockdown
- There is currently £230 billion worth of property currently on Rightmove, circa 95% of the housing market
- Total available stock for sale is down 2.5% since before lockdown
REDUCTIONS
- 1% of properties up for sale have been reduced over the past week, compared to 2% over the same week last year
- The average size of a reduction over the past week was 4.5%, the same size of a reduction as in the same week last year
ASKING PRICES
- Average asking prices of all property up for sale are up 2% on last year, the same as before the lockdown. The current average is £311,828 (for all of Great Britain)
BIGGEST RISERS
- Biggest increase in buyer searches compared to last year are Manchester (+60%), Liverpool (+54%) and Leeds (+38%)
TRAFFIC ON SITE
- On Tuesday 19th May Rightmove recorded the busiest day since Thursday 5th March, with almost 5.3 million visits, up 4% on the same day in May last year
Rightmove’s Housing Market expert, Miles Shipside, comments: “One week on from the surprise opening of the housing market and agents are still showing caution and quite rightly putting safety first, but many had already started to prepare during lockdown and so have been able to start reopening their branches and conducting viewings. The activity jump on Rightmove proves the determination of home-movers to continue with their plans over the next few months. The pause button put many of the usual metrics we report on out of kilter and so a week’s worth of data should only be taken as an early indication of activity, but it’s certainly encouraging.”
You May Also Enjoy
Why Cases Stall in Summer and What Agents Can Do About It
By Cara Stanbridge, Head of Relationship Management at Nova Conveyancing Every year, we hear talk of the summer slowdown. But from what I see working closely with agents, conveyancers and clients, the issue isn’t usually a lack of activity. More often, it’s keeping transactions moving when everyone involved is juggling higher workloads, holidays and competing…
Read More 
Britain’s property hotspots revealed
The Scottish city where houses sell fastest – and the town where it takes SIX TIMES as long to sell your home Homes in Glasgow sell three times faster than the UK average – making the Scottish city the fastest selling in Britain Wakefield is the slowest-selling city in Britain, with homes spending twice as…
Read More 
Breaking Property News 13/8/26
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X. The average age of tenants living in shared houses in the UK is now 35 Thought leadership by Adam Pigott CEO of tlyfe (Openbrix) “The headline figure that tenants are now in their mid 30’s and still have to share facilities, not even have the…
Read More 
Stamp Duty receipts remain above pre-pandemic norms
The latest research from Yopa has revealed that, despite continued speculation surrounding a slowdown in the housing market, Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) receipts remain comfortably above pre-pandemic levels, demonstrating the resilience of buyer activity in recent years. Yopa analysed monthly Stamp Duty Land Tax receipts published by HM Revenue & Customs between January 2018 and…
Read More 
The summer improvements that could add value to your house
The latest research from Yopa has revealed which summer-inspired home improvements could add the most value to your property once the cost of carrying out the work itself has been taken into account, with a summer house potentially boosting the value of the average UK home by almost £8,000. Yopa analysed a range of popular…
Read More 
Turning anxiety into advantage: how SMEs can make AI work for them
By Johann Aguirre, founder of Cachi AI According to the Office for National Statistics, AI adoption among UK businesses has risen from approximately 12% to around 35% since late 2023. However, adoption levels differ considerably depending on the size of a business and the sector in which it operates. Larger, established organisations may be…
Read More