The nation’s busiest minute for home-hunting: 8.48pm on a Wednesday

December 2, 2019
Rightmove logo
  • New Rightmove data reveals that 8.48pm on a Wednesday is the most popular time for people looking for their next home1
  • Visits to Rightmove’s platforms peak between 8-9pm each day as many people spend the evening dual-screening
  • Home hunters are set to get ready for a post-Christmas rush, which last year saw traffic on Rightmove2 increase by 231% between Christmas Day and January 2nd

If you’ve ever found yourself home-hunting online just before 9pm in the evening, you’re not alone.

Rightmove’s data scientists have revealed that on average there are more people on the UK’s biggest property website at 8.48pm on a Wednesday than any other minute of the week. The busiest hour is between 8pm and 9pm and the quietest hour is at 4am on a Monday.

Home-hunters spend an average of over one billion minutes searching Rightmove every month3, with an average of 141 million visits each month4.

December is usually the quietest month for home-hunting, but traffic starts to rise from Boxing Day onwards. Last Christmas, page views increased by 231% between Christmas Day and January 2nd and the busiest day in December was Sunday 30th December, as people started to think about moving in the new year.

Rightmove’s property expert Miles Shipside said: “We know just how obsessed the nation is with property, but to see such precise consistency in terms of browsing times is really quite remarkable. It may be that the Wednesday peak of 8.48pm coincides with the final advert break of many TV shows. A few years back the busiest time of day was lunchtime but as mobile usage increased this has changed to property lovers revisiting us every evening.

“As we move into December we see people start to get distracted by turkey and tinsel, but once the celebrations are in full swing it doesn’t take long before traffic rises again. Some may realise their home is too small or they finally decide that next year will be the year they take on an exciting project and buy a fixer upper property.”

Rightmove

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

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

House price growth remained resilient in April

UK annual house price growth picked up to 3.0% in April, from 2.2% in March House prices were up 0.4% month on month Headlines Apr-26 Mar-26 Monthly Index* 554.8 552.7 Monthly Change* 0.4% 0.9% Annual Change 3.0% 2.2% Average Price (not seasonally adjusted) £278,880 £277,186 * Seasonally adjusted figure (note that monthly % changes are…
Read More →
Breaking News

Homeowners shift mortgage strategy amid economic uncertainty

Middle East conflict prompts Brits to rethink housing plans 27 per cent of homeowners report overpaying on their mortgage to get ahead of potential future interest rate rises 20 per cent of those remortgaging are looking to lock in a new rate as soon as possible in case of future volatility Barclays Mortgage data shows…
Read More →
Breaking News

Today is the day your rights change: New Renters’ Rights rules now in force for tenants across England

Today marks a major change for tenants across England as the first phase of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 comes into force, significantly strengthening rights and changing how renting works in practice. From today, the long-standing system of Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions ends, meaning tenants can no longer be removed without a specific legal reason.…
Read More →
Home and Living

Mould Tops List of Bathroom Red Flags For Homebuyers

Mould, Space & Water Pressure: 3 Bathroom Deal-breakers Affecting House Sales This Spring   Almost 9 in 10 (88%) Brits say at least one bathroom issue would put them off making an offer on a house.   Mould (60%), lack of space (44%), and water pressure (37%) are the top three deal-breakers, with concern intensifying…
Read More →
Home and Living

10 Common Carpet Stains and How to Remove Them

Carpets rarely get dirty in one obvious moment. It’s usually something you don’t notice right away. A bit of coffee in the morning when you’re half awake. Someone walks in with slightly wet shoes. Something small gets dropped during dinner and wiped quickly, but not completely. None of it feels important at the time. Then,…
Read More →
bank of england interest rate
Breaking News

Industry Response to Bank of England Rate Hold

The Bank of England has just announced its decision to hold the base rate at 3.75%. This decision comes as a result of wider economic uncertainty and inflation (CPI) increasing to 3.3% in March and remaining above the Bank’s 2.0% target.   Matt Smith, Rightmove’s mortgage expert “A Bank Rate hold is actually positive news…
Read More →