People pass by the Bank of England building in London. — Bloomberg
LONDON: British estate agents have seen a pick-up in demand from buyers since the Bank of England’s (BoE) decision on Aug 1 to begin cutting interest rates from a 16-year high, property website Rightmove says.
Rightmove, which said it advertises property for more than nine of every 10 estate agents in the United Kingdom, highlighted on the website that buyer enquiries in August were 19% higher than a year earlier.
That was compared with an 11% annual increase in July.
“While mortgage rates are not yet substantially lower since the rate cut, the fact that the long-hoped-for first cut has finally arrived, and mortgage rates are heading downwards, is positive development for home-mover sentiment,” Rightmove director Tim Bannister said on the website posting.
England’s central bank governor Andrew Bailey said after the first rate cut that mortgage rates had fallen in anticipation of the reduction in interest rates, and that the BoE would be careful not to cut rates too quickly.
Financial markets last Friday priced in at least one, and probably two, further quarter-point rate cuts this year.
The average interest rate on a five-year fixed-rate mortgage was now 4.80%, Rightmove said, down from 5.82% a year ago when the BoE had just raised rates to their peak of 5.25%.
The average asking price in the United Kingdom for a newly advertised property on Rightmove between July 7 and Aug 10 was 1.5% lower than a month earlier at £367,785 (US$474,663).
Rightmove said that this was typical for August when there is usually a lull in activity.
Asking prices were 0.8% higher than a year earlier, compared with an annual rise of 0.4% the month before.
Official data based on sales completed in June has shown prices were 2.7% higher than a year earlier, the joint-biggest increase since March 2023. — Reuters
