"Since the Bank Rate cut, the trend we were seeing is more smaller and mass-market homes coming to market for sale, but in just the last week we’ve seen a flurry of activity at the top-end again."
- Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s property expert
Over the last week there has been a surge in larger homes listed for sale, according to the latest data from Rightmove.
The number of top-end homes coming to the market for sale - covering four-bedroom detached houses and all five bedroom or larger homes - is now 15% ahead of the same period last year.
More sellers have been coming to market since the Bank Rate cut, but previously this trend was being driven by the smaller homes sector of two-bedrooms or fewer coming to the market for sale.
There are number of potential drivers of the spike in larger homes listings. One potential factor is falling mortgage rates, which has been most pronounced for those with larger deposits, who would typically be more active in this largest homes sector.
Rightmove’s weekly mortgage tracker shows that average five-year fixed mortgage rate at 60% LTV is now 3.97%, compared with 5.27% at this time last year.
Another factor is increasing speculation around a capital gains tax rise in the Autumn Statement on 30th October. In addition to landlords, second home-owners of larger homes in particular could be hit by any increase to capital gains tax, which may be leading some to cash out now.
The trend of larger homes coming to the market for sale this week is most prominent in the East of England (+21%) and the South West (+20%), regions which contain some of Great Britain’s popular coastal and countryside hotspots.
More choice of homes for sale also tends to encourage other home-owners to come to market, and for those looking to move within the largest homes sector, there is much greater availability of homes to move to compared with last year.
Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s property expert, commented: “Throughout this year we have typically been seeing more activity at the top-end compared with last year, as movers in this sector were hit with peak mortgage rates and lower availability of homes to choose from. Since the Bank Rate cut, the trend we were seeing is more smaller and mass-market homes coming to market for sale, but in just the last week we’ve seen a flurry of activity at the top-end again. Some of the lowest mortgage rates since before the mini-Budget are now available for those with a large deposit, and a mooted increase in capital gains tax is also likely to be contributing to decision making right now.”
