Rightmove recorded its busiest ever month in January 2020, logging 152 million visits.

This figure represents a 7 per cent increase on January 2019.

Data collected by the firm shows that 29 January was the busiest day, with 5.7 million visits. This is an increase of 9 per cent on the previous busiest day.

Furthermore, time spent on the site was up 4 per cent year-on-year, rising to 1.17 billion minutes.

The number of sales agreed by agents also increased, rising by 12 per cent over the same time frame. This rise is the greatest yearly jump since July 2017.

London saw the biggest uplift, up 26 per cent year-on-year, followed by the East of England, up 20 per cent.

Rightmove director and housing market analyst Miles Shipside says: “Home-movers have sprung into action in 2020, with a large number of agents telling us that sales and valuations have picked up significantly in their local areas.

“There is still an imbalance, with demand growing at a faster rate than new supply and no clear sign yet of any uplift in new listings compared to this time last year, but we could see a new wave of sellers in the coming weeks.

“The stage certainly looks set for an active spring if those sellers considering putting their homes up for sale end up doing so, but to catch this wave of buyer momentum sellers should take care not to over-price their homes.”