Home buyers return as loan rates fall

BUYERS are returning to the housing market amid falling mortgage rates, with demand from buyers rising by 55pc this month, compared with the two weeks before Christmas, says Rightmove.

The property website said this represented the biggest “new year bounce” since 2016.

The number of buyer inquiries was also 4pc higher than during the same period in 2019. Experts attributed it to mortgage rates increasing confidence among buyers.

The average two-year fixed deal has dropped from a high of 6.65pc in October to 5.63pc, and is down from 5.79pc since the beginning of this month.

Tim Bannister, of Rightmove, said: “Activity has bounced back after Christmas and agents will now be busy trying to match the likely revised expectations of buyers and sellers as we move towards the important spring season.

“We expect that the full effect of affordability constraints and last year’s mortgage rate rises will hold back some segments of the market in the first half of the year, but our leading market indicators may start to identify some green shoots of growth that will go on to strengthen in the second half of 2023.”