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Lockdown drives new wave of movers to enter the market


With the market effectively closed between 24th March and 12th May, over 175,000 sellers couldn’t come to market. But data revealed in our June House Price Index shows they’ve now sprung into action with record numbers of owners asking for valuations and daily new listings now higher than this time last year. Our latest survey of nearly 5,000 home movers shows this is driven by two factors.

Only 7% of vendors have withdrawn from the market due to the pandemic

When asked what impact the pandemic had had on their plans, only 7% of vendors and 6% of buyers who were planning a move before lockdown said they no longer were.

The vast majority of movers who flooded the market after the December election, leading to a buoyant early 2020, are still planning to buy, sell and rent.

 

28% of people with no previous plans to move are now joining them

Crucially, our survey also found that of those who said they have no plans to buy, sell or rent before lockdown, 28% are now planning to do so.

Looking at the size of the market as a whole, this research suggests there’s now a bigger pool of vendors and landlords in the market for you to win business from than before lockdown.

For more research and statistics on the market rebound, visit hub.rightmove.co.uk/support.

Source: Rightmove Consumer Survey, May 2020. Respondents: 4692.