The average asking price of properties listed for sale has increased by 2.4 per cent from £312,625 in March before the housing market went into lockdown to reach a record high of £320,265 this month.
Rightmove’s latest index also reveals that prices are 3.7 per cent higher than they were a year ago, which is the highest annual growth figure since December 2016.
The property portal says that new buyer enquiries were up by 75 per cent year-on-year at the start of July.
It says the number of monthly sales agreed is up 15 per cent in England and in the five days after the chancellor’s stamp duty announcement sales were 35 per cent higher than the equivalent dates last year.
However, total available stock is still 13 per cent down across Britain compared to this time last year.
Rightmove director Miles Shipside says: “The unexpected mini-boom continues to gather momentum as more nations reopen.
“Overall buyer enquiries are up by an incredible 75 per cent year-on-year in Britain and we expect activity will increase even further as Scotland has not yet been open for a full month, and Wales still has some housing market restrictions in place.
“The busy until interrupted spring market has now picked up where it left off and has been accelerated by both time-limited stamp duty holidays and by homeowners reappraising their homes and lifestyles because of the lockdown.”
Shipside says that the increase in asking prices is an early indicator of house price trends.
“They show on average prices gently rising not falling, and this will be reflected in the coming months in other house price reports.
“Current activity levels clearly show that Britain is getting moving again, with the number of properties coming to market up by 11.1 per cent this month compared to a year ago despite Scotland and Wales not contributing for the full period, and total available stock recovering to now being just 13 per cent down.
“The market is now in full flow with 40,741 (44 per cent) of the 92,085 newly listed properties in the first month after the English market reopened having already found a buyer, compared to 34 per cent for the equivalent dates last year.
Shipside says that the stamp duty holiday will provide a further incentive for buyers, but warns that deals need to be agreed before Christmas in order to allow time for completion before the tax break ends on March 31.
Cheffins is an estate agency in Cambridge. Its director Martin Walshe says: “Post-lockdown we are as busy as we have been at any time in the past five years and demand is at such a level that we have had over 25 properties go to sealed bids in the past four weeks.
“Lockdown made those who were already considering a house move almost frantic with anticipation for estate agency doors to reopen and the increase we have seen in enquiries since rules were relaxed has overtaken any other peak I’ve ever experienced.
“We haven’t seen a market this competitive in years and we expect it to get busier still as the stamp duty slash starts to take effect. “
Exeter agent Wilkinson Grant & Co’s director Roger Wilkinson says: “With demand and confidence high, in the last nine weeks our Exeter and East Devon offices have agreed, exchanged or completed on over £50m-worth of sales.
“Many of our new listings have attracted multiple offers within a week or so of launch and many have been agreed in excess of pre-lockdown valuation guides.”
