London has the highest number of houses under offer since before Brexit as buyers rush to avoid the hike in stamp duty that comes into effect from April, according to Foxtons Plc (LSE:FOXT), the capital's largest estate agent.
“The growth in the under-offer pipeline is partly driven by first-time buyer activity ahead of increased stamp duty rates from April 2025, which may result in some buyer activity being accelerated into the first quarter of 2025 ahead of the deadline,” said a statement from the London-listed group.
First-time buyers utilising reliefs introduced by the Tories in 2022 are diving the demand, said Foxtons, explaining that currently there is no stamp duty on purchases less than £425,000 and only 5% from £425,000 to £625,000.
However, from April 1, the nil rate band drops to £300,000, while the 5% rate only applies up to £500,000.
Guy Gittins, chief executive, said the people were also now coming to terms with the huge increase in mortgage rates in 2023.
Foxtons reported revenue up by 11% to around £163 million in 2024, with underlying profit 33% higher at £19 million.
Lettings revenue again underpinned the growth, growing by around 5%, with a rise of 11% in the fourth quarter.
Rightmove PLC (LSE:RMV), meanwhile, reported that the rents outside London have fallen for the first time before Covid.
More rental properties coming onto the market were cited as the reason, though rents overall still rose between October and December as costs in London continued to climb.
Rents in the capital rose to an average of £2,695 per calendar month (pcm), up by 0.1% on the previous quarter, while the rest of the country saw a 0.2% dip to £1,341 pcm for newly advertised properties.
Rents are currently 4.7% up on a year earlier, the slowest rate of growth since 2021, Rightmove added.
Even though supply is increasing, typically there are still 10 applications made for every rental property.
Rightmove's Colleen Babcock said: "While new tenants are still paying more than they were at this time last year, the pace of growth continues to slow.
"However, though this is the big picture of market activity, agents on the ground still tell us that the market is very hot, and some areas have improved more than others when it comes to the supply and demand balance."
The northeast of England was said to have seen the biggest boost to supply, with Wales the smallest.
Shares in Foxtons rose 3% to 68p, while Rightmove was up 1.4% at 649p.