The number of new properties coming to the market on Boxing Day was 26 per cent higher than a year ago, figures reveal.
The South East saw the most new homes coming to market, followed by the East and the South West.
Online property platform Rightmove said it saw its busiest ever Boxing Day for visits to its site.
Rightmove said most of the properties being listed on Boxing Day were ‘mid-market’ three or four-bedroom houses.
More than a third of homes newly listed on Boxing Day were smaller, typical first-time buyer properties, with two or fewer bedrooms, Rightmove added.
Only 18 per cent of the homes newly listed on Boxing Day were larger homes, typically deemed to be at the top of the property ladder.
More listings: The number of new properties coming to the market on Boxing Day was 26% higher than a year ago, Rightmove said
Rightmove said total buyer demand, measured by the number of enquiries sent to estate agents about listed properties, was 20 per cent higher on Boxing Day this year than a year ago.
Steve Pimblett, Rightmove’s chief data officer, said: ‘We’ve seen a record-breaking Boxing Day, not only for people turning to the Rightmove platform once the Christmas Day festivities are over, but also for home-movers taking action and getting ahead of a 2025 move.
‘While it’s very early days, these first indicators are positive signs for a busy start to the year for agents.’
In its latest analysis, the Office for National Statistics said house prices were up 3.4 per cent in the 12 months to October, though this is still a provisional estimate.
Recent data published by Zoopla on 23 December suggested property prices rose by 1.9 per cent in the 12 months to November.
While new listings are on the rise, it remains unclear how the housing market will fare in 2025.
As announced in the Budget on 30 October, buyers must now pay a stamp duty surcharge of five per cent on second homes and buy-to-let properties.
Stamp duty thresholds, the levels at which buyers start to pay the property purchase tax, will drop in the spring of 2025.
For example, the price at which stamp duty starts to be imposed will revert back to £300,000 for first-time buyers, from its current level if £425,000.
Buyers in the most expensive areas, like London and the South East of England, are likely to be most affected by the lowering of stamp duty thresholds, due to high average property prices in these locations.
While Budget tax and stamp duty changes could affect the property market negatively in 2025, analysts expect interest rates, and therefore mortgage rates, to fall, which could boost the property market.
Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, said: ‘The festival period can prove a real inspiration for many who are thinking of potentially moving house.
‘When you consider just how much progression the last twelve month has delivered to the housing market, it’s extremely encouraging to see enhanced levels of confidence translate into record numbers of people having the certainty to approach the buying and selling process.’
He added: ‘We started the year with inflation standing a 4 per cent and the Bank of England base rate at 5.25 per cent, both are now trending steadily back downwards and in turn this is helping to provide much needed affordability.
‘Overall, we are expecting to see an extremely promising start to 2025, as people find themselves in a much more robust financial position than witnessed last year.’
