Rightmove Doubles 2013 Forecast as 'Aggregation of Marginal Gains' Fuels 4.8% Annual Growth

LONDON, July 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Rightmove reports a seventh consecutive monthly rise in the price of property coming to market, up by 0.3% (+£860), and the second successive national record. New sellers are now asking 4.8% (+£11,561) more than a year ago. Several factors suggest this is a broader-based recovery, fuelled by the 'aggregation of marginal gains'.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director, comments: "The market is currently benefitting from the 'aggregation of marginal gains' where incremental improvements across a range of market drivers help to slowly but surely build momentum. Rightmove's lead indicators show increasing enquiries to agents and developers, new sellers and marketing prices. An important signal for a broader-based and sustainable recovery is that all regions of the country now have higher prices than a year ago".

Confidence on the up: early findings from Rightmove's latest Consumer Confidence Survey of more than 25,000 home-movers show that 62% of home-movers expect property prices to be higher a year from now, double the 31% recorded a year ago.

More movers and more to come: HMRC's most recent year to date figures  show that transactions are up by 5% on 2012, while Bank of England figures for mortgage approvals year to date are up 6% on last year. In a clear signal of new business building in the pipeline, Rightmove's email enquiries to agents and developers are up 18% year to date compared with 2012.

Positive borrowing environment: markets don't expect a base rate rise until the latter half of 2016 and the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) is now fulfilling its promise of creating competition that eases mortgage rates and increases availability. On top of that, Help to Buy, currently available for new build only (until January 2014), is capturing prospective buyers' interest. The Homes and Communities Agency reports that 7,000 reservations have already been made.

Rightmove doubles 2013 price forecast from 2% to 4%: given what we've seen over the first half of this year, we expect the average asking price of property coming to the market in England and Wales will end 2013 around 4% higher. In recent years, the gains of the first-half of the year have been eaten away in the second. Between June and December last year, asking prices fell by 7%. The signs are that prices in 2013 will not dissipate as they have in recent years.

Contact details: Rightmove Press Office, [email protected], +44(0)207-087-0700

SOURCE Rightmove Group Ltd