19
Jan
Influx of new vendors 'typical in January'
There is normally a surge in the number of new vendors putting
property up for sale at the start of the year, the director of
Mouseprice has claimed.
Selwyn Lim said that January generally sees an "influx" of sellers
as people hold off putting their homes on the market in the weeks
before and after Christmas.
However, overall there are typically "a lot fewer" people looking
to sell in January compared with other times of the year, which can
make the housing market "quite volatile" from a value perspective,
he remarked.
Mr Lim's comments may help to explain the recent increase in asking
prices reported by Rightmove earlier this week. A 1.2 per cent rise
was observed during the first week of the year, which the website
indicated was not anticipated.
"Because there are fewer [properties], the average [price] can be
spiky," Mr Lim said. "It can bounce around sometimes - it can be
above and sometimes it can be below."