Property for sale: Early-bird Sheffield sellers benefit from busiest ever start to a New Year

The trend of people’s sustained desire to move coupled with decreasing numbers of homes continues as we enter a busy New Year.

The average price of property coming to market rises by 0.3% compared with an unusual drop in January last year as the rush to beat the March stamp duty deadline started to abate.

The result is that national average asking prices are now 7.6% higher than this time last year, an annual rate of growth not seen since the 8.3% recorded back in May 2016.

In Sheffield, this means a rise of £573 on the average asking price of £191,000. Demand is certainly high as Purplebricks reported sales already agreed on many new properties brought to market in the S postcode this year.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property data, said: “New Year sellers and buyers have been quick off the mark this year, with Rightmove recording the highest ever number of Boxing Day sellers coming to market.

"These early-bird sellers who got themselves ready to come to market are now benefitting from the busiest start to the year that we’ve ever recorded, with the number of prospective buyers enquiring about homes up 15% on this time last year.

"People who have made it their New Year’s resolution to move are finding asking prices are within just one per cent of the record from October last year, and are at the highest level ever recorded for first-time-buyer type homes. All of the signs suggest that prices are likely to continue to rise until more choice is available.”

The number of homes available for sale per estate agency branch has hit another record low of 12 properties, down by two from last month.

The few homes that are on the market continue to be snapped up at speed by determined buyers, with the average time to find a buyer in December 2021 being more than two weeks quicker than in the same period the previous year.

Bannister says: "The number of requests from would-be sellers to agents to value their home has continued to increase from the end of last year and was at one of its highest points ever on the first working day of this year.

"While this potential new supply will take a little while to appear on the market, it’s an encouraging sign of more choice for buyers in the coming months. The speed at which we’ve seen the fresh choice that has come to market being snapped up by eager buyers over the past 18 months is a reminder to buyers to move fast.

"To put yourself in the best possible position to proceed, you should become a ‘power buyer’, by making sure your current home is on the market or preferably sold subject to contract first, before starting the search for your new home.”