Average UK house price falls by £6,395 in seasonal slowdown

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The average price of a UK property coming to the market is down 1.7% this month, or the equivalent of £6,395, with data showing that the typical cost of a home has fallen to £360,197.

Property portal Rightmove (RMV.L), which released this latest set of data, said this fall was in line with the usual December fall.

Despite this month's fall, Rightmove said prices were still 1.4% higher than in December 2023 and were broadly in line with its expectation of 1% growth in prices this year.

Even with the anticipated festive lull, Rightmove found that activity remained much stronger than the same time last year, with the number of sales being agreed up by 22%, while new buyer demand is up by 13%.

Rightmove expected to see a further pick up in activity, in what it said had become the "traditional Boxing Day bounce".

Read more: UK economy shrinks unexpectedly by 0.1% in October

Tim Bannister, director of property science at Rightmove, said: "Each year, our real-time data can pinpoint the exact moment that the turkey is finished, family games run out of steam, mobile devices are picked up, and prospective movers flood onto Rightmove and get their 2025 move started.

"If this year is anything like recent years, those early birds who get their search started the day after the festivities are over are likely to be rewarded with plenty of fresh property choice to consider.”

Rightmove's data also indicated that the looming stamp duty deadline of 31 March was impacting seller behaviour, with sellers of smaller properties in higher-priced areas trying to beat the deadline to avoid higher tax.

"After the important first three months of the year in 2025, a lot depends on how quickly normal activity is resumed with higher stamp duty in England," said Bannister.

"A bank rate cut and some mortgage rate falls early on in the year would help to settle the market and provide a boost to sentiment and consumer confidence."

Read more: UK property asking prices set to rise by 4% in 2025

The Bank of England is set to announce its latest interest rate decision on 19 December, with it expected that the central bank keep rates on hold at 4.75%.

Last month, Rightmove said that post-budget jitters appeared to have caused a larger-than-normal seasonal slowdown in pricing in November, with the average cost of a home falling by 1.8% to £366,592.

Going into 2025, Rightmove said that while there were signs that the property market would be stronger, "headwinds remained, with the impact of budget measures being a challenge".