The supply of four- and five-bedroom homes coming to market is 15% ahead of the same period last year, analysis from Rightmove has revealed.
The spike has occurred over the last week – previously the trend of more homes coming to the market for sale was being driven by the smaller homes sector of one or two-bedrooms.
Rightmove said falling mortgage rates, increasing speculation around a capital gains tax rise, and more choice encouraging other sellers to act, are all potential drivers of the shift
Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s property expert, said: “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.”
The trend of larger homes coming to market is most prevalent in the East of England (+21%) and the South West (+20%).
Rightmove’s weekly mortgage tracker shows that average 5-year fixed mortgage rate for someone with a 40% deposit (60% loan-to-value) is now 3.97%, compared with 5.27% at this time last year.
