UK appetite for home moving has continued into the New Year with January demand up by close to 50 per cent on recent new year averages.

In fact demand for family houses is now higher than in the final six months of last year’s stamp duty holiday, housing portal Zoopla has reported. Demand for family houses outside London is four times higher than the five-year average, said the firm.

Demand for flats is also on ‘a sharp upward trajectory’ for the first time in several years, with demand outside London hitting the highest level in five years.

Meanwhile, supply problems have eased with total stock of homes for sale down 44 per cent down on five-year average –  compared to its 47 per cent downward figure at the end of last year

Zoopla predicts continued house price rises this year although at a slower rate than in 2021

‘The effects of the pandemic on the housing market cannot be underestimated’, said Zoopla head of research Grainne Gilmore. ‘Even after nearly two years, the pandemic-led  “search for space” is one of the factors creating record demand for homes. The market is also being boosted by office-based workers re-thinking where and how they are living amid more hybrid working models. But in some cases, as offices re-open, some demand is flowing back into city centres. 

‘Couple this trend with the return of international demand and the more modest prices rises in flats compared to houses over the last two years, and it’s clear why we are now seeing record-high spike in demand for flats outside London, and the highest rate of demand for flat in the capital than at any time since the end of the first lockdown’.