The portal\u2019s survey of more than 10,000 potential movers found that nearly one in five were waiting specifically for the outcome of November\u2019s Budget before resuming activity. It is why Rightmove is expecting a far \u201cbigger than usual\u201d post-Christmas surge of activity on its platform this year. The portal also notes that many new listings are being deliberately held back for launch on or just after Boxing Day in expectation of the uplift in browsing and enquiry levels.<\/p>\n
It shows that much of the second-half slowdown in 2025 was linked to Budget uncertainty rather than underlying market conditions. Rightmove is already reporting \u201cvery early signs of a post-Budget rebound\u201d in some sectors, although the festive lull has delayed what would have been an even broader uptick.<\/p>\n
In London, where concerns over possible tax changes weighed most heavily on market sentiment, the number of new sellers coming to the top end of the market was 24% higher in the week after the Budget than in the week before.<\/p>\n
Rightmove\u2019s data also reveals a stark contrast between the first and second halves of the year. The number of new sellers coming to the market in the first half was 9% ahead of the same period in 2024, but this then reversed to 4% below 2024 in the second half, as early Budget rumours began circulating from August. Buyer demand followed a similar pattern: 3% higher year-on-year in the first half, but 6% lower in the second. Despite this, Rightmove says that the number of sales agreed across the full year remained 3% above 2024, showing that activity levels held up far better than sentiment suggested.<\/p>\n
House prices followed a very similar pattern. The average price of property coming to the market fell by 1.8% (-\u00a36,695) this month to \u00a3358,138, a larger fall than the ten-year December average. Average asking prices ended the year 0.6% lower than in 2024, with the strongest regional performance in the North West (+2.6%), flat growth in London (0.0%) and the largest annual decline in the South West (-2.7%).<\/p>\n
Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove, says: \u201cThe market will soon benefit from the traditional boost in home-moving activity from Boxing Day. Rightmove\u2019s Boxing Day Bounce is an annual event where we see many begin or resume their plans to move after the distraction of Christmas.\u201d She adds that the rumours surrounding property tax changes earlier in the year \u201chad an impact on pricing and activity, as sellers tried to entice nervous buyers\u201d, but expects these effects to fade as clarity improves.<\/p>\n
Agents provide on-the-ground confirmation. Claire Reynolds, UK Head of Sales at Strutt & Parker, says the weeks of speculation leading up to the Budget \u201ccertainly cooled the property market\u201d, especially among discretionary movers, but that the mood \u201cshifted almost instantly once the day finally arrived\u201d. In the Midlands, Phillip Sandbach of John German reports a \u201cmarked uptick in activity and a surge in exchanges\u201d since the announcement, noting that the Budget \u201cdidn\u2019t significantly impact the majority of the property market\u201d.<\/p>\n
Rightmove believes improving affordability will help support buying activity in the early part of 2026. The average two-year fixed mortgage rate is now 4.33%, compared with 5.08% this time last year. In addition, wage growth is finally running ahead of inflation, and the relaxation of lending criteria earlier this year has already improved borrowing capacity for many households. Matt Smith, Rightmove\u2019s mortgage expert, says home-movers will enter 2026 \u201clooking at cheaper average mortgage rates than they were at the beginning of 2025\u201d, which he expects to further boost confidence.<\/p>\n
Rightmove is therefore predicting that 2026 will look \u201cmore like the encouraging first half of this year rather than the second half\u201d. Buyer choice remains high, affordability is improving, and economic conditions appear more stable than during the autumn period of speculation. The portal forecasts that average new-seller asking prices will rise by 2% next year, after a stronger start to the year.<\/p>\n
Babcock concludes: \u201cWith market conditions supporting higher levels of activity, and a hopefully more certain economic environment, we forecast a better year for price growth in 2026 with a strong rebound in activity to kick start the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rightmove is forecasting a bigger-than-usual Boxing Day Bounce this year. It is being driven by the large cohort of movers who had paused their plans during months of Budget speculation and are now planning on returning to the market, and follows similar predictions recently made by rival portal Zoopla. The portal\u2019s survey of more than… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4233,"featured_media":6106922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,765,6],"tags":[144,720],"class_list":["post-6106919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-expert-advice","category-property-investment","category-uk-housing-market","tag-rightmove","tag-uk-house-prices"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6106919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6106919"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6106919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6106924,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6106919\/revisions\/6106924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6106922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6106919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6106919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6106919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}