5th Feb 2021 04:57
(Alliance News) - Property portal Rightmove PLC on Friday said it had its busiest ever January, with site visits surging as new buyers were undeterred by Covid-19 health crisis or the looming end to the UK stamp duty holiday at the end of March.
Rightmove said visits to its website jumped by 39% annually to a new record in January, with time spent on rising 44%.
"Prospective buyers contacting estate agents was up by 7% on January last year, and those enquiring about a property to rent was up by 14%," Rightmove said.
The number of sales agreed was 5% higher, "despite the fact the majority will not complete in time to beat the stamp duty holiday deadline".
Back in July, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the threshold for stamp duty would be temporarily raised to GBP500,000 from GBP125,000. This stamp duty holiday draws to a close on March 31, leaving new buyers with just weeks to agree a property purchase in time.
Rightmove Director of Property Data Tim Bannister said: "It's clear that more people than ever before used the new year as a chance to start thinking about moving home, despite all of the challenges and worries that came with January, but we are seeing the effect of lockdown on the number of properties coming to market.
"We're starting to see fall throughs creep up a bit, though not by a substantial amount, a sign that some deals may be falling apart as they know they won't complete in time to make the stamp duty holiday deadline, though this is likely to be in the groups set to make more substantial savings. The start of February so far looks encouraging for activity, which points to some positive signs for the next few months and into Q2."
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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