Record high for prices nearing

“This is the year to satisfy their pent-up housing needs”

The average price tag on a UK home is on the brink of reaching a new record high and now sits just £40 below its previous peak, according to a property website.

Rightmove said the average asking price stood at £309,399 in February – up by 0.8%, or £2,589 month-on-month.

This means typical asking prices are just £40 below a previous record high of £309,439 reached in June 2018.

Rightmove said there had been a boom in buyer demand, with traffic to its website hitting a new record of more than 152 million visits in January. Other property websites have also reported surges in activity at the start of 2020.

Rightmove’s report said that as market momentum continued to build ahead of the spring moving season, a series of new price records was likely.

Upwards price pressure is being driven by a post-general election release of pent-up housing demand, and, while there is a longawaited and welcome recovery in the number of new sellers coming to market, this is being outstripped by a surge in demand from buyers, the report added.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: “Buyers who had been hesitating and waiting for the greater political certainty following the election outcome may be paying a higher price, but they can now jump into the spring market with renewed confidence.

“After three-anda-half years of Brexit uncertainty, dither and delay, many now seem to have the 2020 vision that this is the year to satisfy their pent-up housing needs.”