The cost of three or four bedroom homes suitable for second steppers reached a record £291,618 in September, Rightmove’s house price index has found.
The cost of those homes rose by 0.4% month-on-month and 5.7% annually.
However the price of homes suitable for first-time buyers has fallen by 0.4% on a monthly basis to £200,324, though they still rose by 4.2% year-on-year.
Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, said: “The latest Rightmove figures demonstrate the considerable strength of the rebound in buyer demand immediately before the latest restrictions on businesses and households were applied.
“On the ground, acceleration in the number of cases is also prompting many buyers to pause at least until the Covid fog clears a little.
“However, confidence in longer-term housing market prospects seems undiminished as well as the many reasons behind it such as the stamp duty holiday and continuing low interest rates irrespective of uncertainty caused by worsening employment prospects and the real possibility of a no-deal Brexit.”
Tomer Aboody, director of property lender MT Finance, said: “This current boom is a good sign, with buyers looking for more space and understanding that it comes at a premium. The stamp duty stimulus, along with cheaper than ever mortgages, means more people have greater confidence to take the plunge and buy a home.
“Cheap money, high loan-to-value mortgages, well-capitalised banks happy to lend and plenty of buyer demand, are the main reasons for the uptick in sales. There is also a desire to act quickly before a potential widespread deterioration in people’s credit ratings due to looming uncertainty over job security caused by the pandemic.
“The market will need further assistance and hopefully encouragement from government to offer higher LTVs will have a real positive impact, along with any potential further extension to the stamp duty break.”
