January house prices jump 2.8% as buyer confidence returns

The average asking price of newly listed homes jumped to £368,031 in January, marking a 2.8% rise from December and the biggest January increase ever recorded.

According to Rightmove, the £9,893 monthly increase is also the strongest rise seen in any month since June 2015.

National prices are now 0.5% above levels seen a year ago as confidence improves following last autumn’s Budget uncertainty.

Stock levels are at their highest since 2014, and a third of homes have already reduced their asking prices, signalling that competition remains intense.

Listing at higher prices

Colleen Babcock, a property expert at Rightmove, said: “It’s an encouraging start to the year to see sellers confident enough to list their homes at higher prices after several months of muted price growth last year, coinciding with more potential buyers returning to market.

“However, asking prices are only back to where they were in the summer of 2025 before the Budget rumours began surfacing, which unsettled the market and dented confidence.

“This new year, seller confidence is a good sign.”

She added: “There’s a 12-year high number of homes for sale for this time of year, so buyers have lots of choice, and a third of properties that were already on the market for sale have had a price reduction.”

Buyers return

The price rebound reflects a return of movers to the market with buyer enquiries climbing 57% in the two weeks after Christmas compared with the fortnight before.

New listings rose by 81% and the traditional Boxing Day bounce was particularly strong.

Rightmove says its platform saw its busiest ever day for traffic.

While recent demand is lower than the stamp-duty-driven rush seen at the start of 2025, it broadly matches levels recorded in 2024.

Most areas saw rises

Regional trends remain mixed with most areas recording price growth in January.

However, the East Midlands and Scotland moved against the wider pattern with month-on-month declines.

Rightmove’s mortgage tracker shows the average two-year fixed rate has fallen to 4.29%, down from 5.03% a year earlier.

That’s the lowest level since before the September 2022 mini-Budget.

The cheapest two-year deals for borrowers with larger deposits now start from 3.47%.