The housing market is seeing signs of life after coming to a halt last year, according to online estate agent Rightmove
The housing market is seeing signs of life after stalling last year, according to online realtor Rightmove.
He said “confidence is improving” and the number of transactions in recent weeks was only a tenth below pre-pandemic levels.
This comes after a slowdown in activity last year following a “frenzied” 2021, Rightmove said.
Building confidence: Rightmove said the number of transactions in recent weeks was only a tenth below pre-pandemic levels
The company claimed that Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s September mini-budget, which caused mortgage costs to spike, led to a drop in transactions in the last three months of 2022.
Rightmove chief executive Peter Brooks-Johnson said people considering buying homes “have stopped thinking about their options”. And he added: “The first few weeks of January were calm, but since then we have seen confidence improve.”
“We’ve come a long way and this year seems to be a bit calmer than 2019, but definitely in the realm of normal years.”
His comments came as he posted a 9% rise in sales for 2022 to £332.6m, while company profits rose 7% to £241.3m.
It was boosted by homebuilders, who typically sell their homes outright, turning to Rightmove for help selling homes during the market downturn.
The company raised its dividend by nearly a tenth, to 8.5p per share, or a total of £68million.
But its shares fell 1.1%, or 6p, to 557.8p yesterday.
