Market kick starts with rise in visits, new listings and enquiries to agents on Rightmove

May 14, 2020
Rightmove logo
  • Visits to Rightmove were up 45% on Wednesday morning compared to the previous day following the government’s surprise announcement to reopen the housing market1
  • Email enquiries sent to agents rose by 70% now that physical viewings can again take place2
  • New listings are also starting to rise, with 2,115 new properties added in just five hours3

 

Early signs on Rightmove show a surge of home-mover activity now that the government has eased restrictions on moving home in England. Ahead of the announcement, activity was already starting to steadily recover, with yesterday (Tuesday 12th May) being the busiest day of lockdown for visits to Rightmove. The surprise announcement last night has ignited further interest.

 

Rightmove’s Housing Market Expert Miles Shipside commented: “These are clear signs that the news from the government has prompted more home-hunters to start looking for their next home, and we anticipate further uplift in activity once agents have time to adjust to the new social distancing guidance specific to the home moving sector. Home movers who have been eagerly waiting to take their home moving plans to the next stage should show some patience with agents given the unexpected announcement, to ensure there’s time to adapt to the new guidelines and ensure everyone is kept safe.”

 

Rightmove has created some guidelines on how to view property safely based on the government’s published guidance for home-movers, available at:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/articles/property-news/how-to-view-property-safely/

Rightmove

UK Property news updates shared directly from Rightmove PLC - the country's leading property portal.

You May Also Enjoy

Letting Agent Talk

Landlords and tenants advised to work together to get through extreme heatwaves

With some areas set to be hotter than Portugal this week, lettings and estate agents across the UK are issuing advice to protect properties ahead of extreme weather Prolonged periods of hot weather across the UK are placing additional pressure on homes, from overheating and poor ventilation to damage caused by extreme temperatures. Today, lettings…
Read More →
Estate Agent Talk

Nearly half of UK home listings fail to sell

A London estate agent has warned that thousands of homeowners across the UK are pricing themselves out of the market by setting asking prices that no longer reflect what buyers are willing to pay. The warning comes after new analysis by Zoopla, covering more than two million property listings between 2023 and 2026, found that…
Read More →
Rightmove logo
Breaking News

Lowest number of new build developments coming to market since 2017

New analysis from the UK’s largest property platform Rightmove reveals that the number of new build housing developments coming to market is at its lowest level since January 2017 The figures are despite the government’s target to build 1.5 million homes over the course of this parliament Higher mortgage rates continue to set a challenging…
Read More →
Estate Agent Talk

What Every Estate Agent Should Tell Clients Before Moving Day

For most estate agents, the job is done once contracts are exchanged, completion takes place, and the keys are handed over. For your client, however, that’s when one of the biggest challenges begins. Moving day has the power to turn months of excitement into an incredibly stressful experience, or a smooth finish to what has…
Read More →
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 9/7/26

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   PropTech is evolving but WhatsApp is still winning the Property transaction battle A home-moving process that a decade of PropTech failed to fix   Thought leadership by Olivier Jauniaux Founder of NestLink There are a particular series of messages, somewhere in every property chain, that decides whether…
Read More →
Breaking News

Heatwaves haven’t diminished love for south-facing gardens

The latest research from Yopa reveals that despite 81% of people saying they have been avoiding their garden during the recent heatwaves, south-facing gardens continue to be the preferred orientation of choice for UK homeowners, attracting house price premiums of over £20,000 on average. However, the insight from Yopa also suggests that should heatwaves become…
Read More →