Once the turkey was carved and dinner was done, it seems attention turned from pulling crackers to turning keys as here at OnTheMarket, we saw our highest level of traffic on Christmas Day at 8pm.
It’s not uncommon for property searches to spike over the festive period as people prepare for a new start in the new year and think about upgrading their homes, downsizing or even starting afresh in a new area. However, what can be even more interesting is when these surges occur.
With many people spending a lot of time indoors over the festive period, whether it be in their own homes or with family or friends, it’s no surprise that there’s an increased focus on our living arrangements and on Christmas Day 2023, we had the most traffic to our site at 8pm with 7.47% of traffic occurring at that time.
Between board games and back-to-back Christmas specials, after a day of entertaining and arguing over the best chocolate in the selection box, it’s only natural that many people would start to notice the things they’d like to change about their home. Whether it be a separate playroom for the children after all the new toys have been unwrapped, a larger dining room as the family expands or a spare bedroom for extra guests, a Christmas Day evening spent searching for properties seems to have been just the ticket for many potential movers.
As the festive break continued, after a sufficient lie-in and before any sports kicked-off, we saw our highest level of traffic at 11am on Boxing Day with 6.48% of traffic occurring at that time.
Meanwhile, after welcoming in the new year, as the population started to gear up for the return to reality and the first working week of 2024, on New Year’s Day, we can report the most traffic was seen on our site at 2pm with 7.28% of activity occurring at that time.
As well as uncovering the busiest times for property searches over the festive period, we’ve also explored the most popular locations where homes were searched for over the Christmas holiday on our site.
When looking at the most popular search locations on OnTheMarket on Christmas Day, the majority of rental searches (38.40%) were for properties in London, whereas the South East saw the most searches (14.17%) for resale homes.
The South East and West Midlands were the second and third most searched for locations for rental properties on Christmas Day with 10.62% and 7.97% of searches being for rentals in these regions respectively. London was the second most popular region where sales properties were searched for with 11.67% of sales searches being for homes in the city on Christmas Day, and the South West was the third most searched for location for sales properties (11.12%).
On Boxing Day, trends were similar with 32.82% of rental searches being for properties in London, followed by 12.14% of rental searches being for properties in the South East and 8.48% of searches being for rentals in the North West.
Also following a similar pattern to Christmas Day, when looking at searches for homes to buy on Boxing Day, we found that 15.30% of sales searches were for properties in the South East, 12.42% of searches were for properties to buy in the South West and 10.60% of sales searches were for homes in London.
Finally, on New Year’s Day, 27.32% of rental searches were for homes in London followed by 14.06% of searches being for rentals in the South East and 10.07% of rental searches being for properties in the North West.
When looking at searches for properties to buy on New Year’s Day, 15.90% of searches were for homes for sale in the South East, followed by 11.84% of searches being for sales properties in the South West and 9.43% of sales searches being for homes to buy in London.
Historically, the Christmas holiday is an incredibly busy period as far as searching for property is concerned. People are motivated to explore property options for many reasons, whether they be personal circumstances, the prospect of relocating for career opportunities or simply the want for a new start as the year draws to a close.
Our insights for the holiday season we’ve just left behind suggest that despite the market facing ongoing macro-economic headwinds throughout 2023, from the increased cost of living to high interest rates which many are hoping have now reached their peak, behaviour among the home-moving public remained consistent with seasonal trends as we saw traffic peak on our site at 8pm on Christmas Day, 11am on Boxing Day and 2pm on New Year’s Day. These are times when people would typically be more free to get on with the business of focusing on their potential next move between traditional festive activities as more attention is paid to living situations over the holiday period.
If you’re serious about moving, get started with your property search here.
