Home movers spring into action as property websites report record traffic

Property websites have been reporting record numbers of visits in January, in further evidence that housing market activity is moving up a gear.

Operators of the OnTheMarket.com property portal said that traffic in January exceeded 30 million visits.

This marked a new monthly record, an increase of more than 28% compared with January 2019 and 11% more than the previous record of 27.2 million in September 2019.

Ian Springett, chief executive officer of OnTheMarket, said: “Our strong January performance provides powerful further evidence that our growth strategy is working and engagement is building amongst both property-seekers and agents.”

Rightmove also reported this week that visits to its website surpassed 150 million for the first time in January, making it the busiest month it has ever recorded.

The website suggested that the more certain political outlook has helped to boost the number of house hunters.

There were over 152 million visits to Rightmove in January, a 7% increase on January 2019.

It said the number of sales being agreed by agents was up 12% compared to the same month in 2019, the biggest year-on-year jump in any month since July 2017.

Rightmove director and housing market analyst Miles Shipside said: “Home movers have sprung into action in 2020, with a large number of agents telling us that sales and valuations have picked up significantly in their local areas.

“There’s still an imbalance, with demand growing at a faster rate than new supply and no clear sign yet of any uplift in new listings compared to this time last year, but we could see a new wave of sellers in the coming weeks.”