Why now is a great time to sell your home!

PUBLISHED: 5th Feb 2025

With more competitive interest rates than this time last year, a growing number of properties coming to the market AND a rush from many buyers and sellers to beat the rise in Stamp duty (which commences on 1st April in England and Northern Ireland), now is a great time to sell your home.

Property transactions are moving upwards as the start of 2025 begins

The stamp duty holiday ends soon

The stamp duty holiday was introduced in the mini-budget in 2022. This meant that there was no stamp duty for first-time buyers on the first £425,000 of a property’s value. This was increased from £300,000. The impact of this was likely to affect around one in five first-time buyers, though this will vary significantly across the country.

The overall mix of market conditions has also provided extra confidence and affordability
that people were waiting for before making their first or next house move.

Jason Tebb, President of On the Market says “A dip in transaction numbers in November
compared with the previous month is always concerning as transactions are a better
indicator of market health than house price fluctuations. However, the numbers need to be put into context as buyers and sellers brought forward transactions to October amid concerns as to what the Budget might hold boosting activity that month."

Interest rate reductions bolstered buyer and seller confidence

Jason points out that two rate reductions in the second half of last year had bolstered buyer and seller confidence “with further cuts expected this year, there is cautious optimism which bodes well for the Spring market."
“While some lenders have reduced their fixed-rate mortgages this month, helping ease affordability, an increased stock means buyers have more choices so are in a stronger negotiating position."

“The full impact of the Budget has yet to be factored in, and therefore, a true indication of
where we are at would be around Spring, once the stamp duty holiday comes to an end“

January and February are traditionally a great time to sell

January and February are also considered traditionally a great time to put your property on
the market. These months traditionally see lower supply, although the end of the Stamp duty holiday has reversed that trend, with a faster demand and faster selling times. They also see a smoother transaction time and serious buyers - this is why now could be a great time to consider making a house move.

Once the post-Christmas holiday is out of the way, children are back at school (plus the barrage of snow this year), people looking to move home become motivated to make a move before property transactions begin to move upward.

why property transactions are moving upwards at the start of 2025 - adverse weather conditions - snow

Second highest house price growth in Leeds

Zoopla have predicted that areas in the North also have the best prospects for house price growth. This includes Leeds which is cited as one of the cities most likely to see above-average rises in value this year. Zoopla has placed Leeds as second only to Newcastle as the English location with the best chance of House price Growth in 2025.

Zoopla’s analysis is based on a range of indicators including the affordability of homes, how quickly property is selling, how much asking prices are being cut to attract demand and how many homes have been on the market for more than 6 months.

These factors have been collated and ranked across 120 postal areas of the UK to create an overall ranking of the areas with the best prospects for 2025.

Richard Donnell, Executive Director at Zoopla commented “The housing market returned to
growth in 2024 with more sales and higher prices as mortgage rates fell. We expect average UK house prices to increase by 2.25% in 2025"

Two-thirds of our properties sold at above asking price

David Phillip at David Phillip Estate Agents commented “We have seen a vast improvement
in the market already this year, not only in terms of the number of properties we are listing
but also the number of motivated buyers in the North Leeds area. Since the start of January, we haven’t sold anything at less than the asking price and over two-thirds of our properties have been sold at above the asking price.”