House prices: Return to major cities aids ‘biggest leap for 20 years’

House prices: Return to major cities aids ‘biggest leap for 20 years’

House prices have skyrocketed in just one month as the easing of the Covid situation has reignited interest in city living, according to a new report. The average price tag for a home has risen by £7,785 in the space of a month. 

The Rightmove website said that February’s figure marked the biggest month-on-month leap in its 20 years of covering asking prices. The website says the renewed interest in London homes is helping to drive the incredible performance. 

By the end of the first Covid lockdown in summer 2020, buyers were looking for more space outside of the big cities. Demands for flats fell as people hunted for homes with gardens. But on Monday, Rightmove said a return to workplaces meant that interest in living in London and other major cities had returned.

The report says buyers looking to move on from their first homes – “second steppers” – were behind the price tag hike despite households benign squeezed by surging living costs, including energy, food and fuel bills. 

The property website’s director of data, Tim Bannister, said: “We now have a group of movers who are looking to return closer to major cities, or at least within comfortable commuting distance of their workplaces.

“High demand and a shortage of available stock are supporting a rise in prices and a new record average asking price this month.

“The rising cost of living is undoubtedly affecting many people’s finances, especially those trying to save up enough for a deposit to get on the ladder or to trade up.

“However, despite rising costs and rising interest rates, the data right now shows demand rising across the whole of Great Britain, with many people determined to move as we head into the spring home-moving season.”

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