Asking prices for first-time buyer homes are rising the most across the country, new research by property portal Rightmove has found.
According to the research, published on 10 February, the average asking price for a first-time buyer home (defined by Rightmove as a property with two bedrooms or fewer) the national average asking price of first-time buyer properties was £200,578, up 3.9% compared to a year ago, or an annual rise of £7,475. That compares to an increase of 3.3% across the whole market.
In the East of England the average asking price for a first time buyer home was up 2% on year ago prices – a difference of nearly £5,000. The only area to see a dip was London, as more people are working from home, it’s a good time to move from the capital to a property elsewhere where you may have more space.
Separately Rightmove announced that the housing market saw the busiest ever January on record. According to the portal in January its website saw over 211 million visits and the amount of time that people spent on the site totalled more than 1.6 billion minutes, which equates to over 3,000 years collectively. This is a 44% increase on January 2020 levels.
There are also strong signs of a number of new buyers just starting out on their search in 2021, with 7% more buyers contacting estate agents via Rightmove than in January 2020. But, the number of new properties coming to market is not satisfying the increased demand from buyers. This has led to there being 21% fewer new properties coming up for sale on Rightmove compared to this time last year.
Watsons Customer Services Manager Ian Harris said: “Many people are deciding that 2021 is the year to get their foot on the property ladder or to move to a property that ticks their “new normal” boxes, and these reports provide an insightful snapshot into the property market right now. The figures demonstrate the trend we have seen over recent months of buyers increasingly favouring out of London locations.”
