Homebuyer searches in the UK drop by 18%

Our latest research revealed that monthly visits to the UK’s top online property portal (Rightmove) have fallen by -18% in the past year. It’s clear that high mortgage rates have made an impact on the national market from the very earliest stages of the buying process.

By measuring visits during September 2022 against those in October 2023, we analysed the annual change in monthly visitors to the top online property portal in 21 different countries to see how the international housing market has reacted to widespread economic uncertainty and the rising cost of mortgages.

It’s clear the mortgage crisis has impacted the housing market across every aspect of the buying journey, from the final sale to the very earliest stages.

The UK still ranks silver for most searches

But it’s not all doom and gloom - the UK continues to be one of the world’s most aspirational ownership nations, with 96 million Rightmove visits in a single month.

Co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented:

“It’s no surprise that portal visits have declined in the past year. The market has slowed - not crashed - as a result of economic turmoil pushing mortgage rates higher than we have seen in the UK for many years. But UK homebuyers remain an aspirational bunch, so they’re still hitting the portals at a greater rate than nearly every other country we studied during the course of this research.”

In fact, the UK ranks an impressive second place, closely following the USA’s 319.7 million visits to Zillow. And of course - it’s important to remember the USA’s population is significantly larger, so it’s promising to see the UK following so closely behind in proportion to its population.

Home buying searches around the globe

Out of the 20 other countries we analysed, 16 of them also saw a significant annual reduction. Take a look at our findings:

Only four countries around the globe saw monthly portal visits increase on the year : Brazil at 15%, Italy at 6%, Czech Republic at 6%, and Poland at 5%.

The UK portal split

The UK has three major property portals: Rightmove, Zoopla, and On The Market (OTM). Between them, they garnered 429.4 million visits from August to October 2023.

Snatching 67.1% of these visits is Rightmove, while Zoopla follows at 21.7%, and OTM takes the bronze with 11.2%.

What will 2024 bring?

Unfortunately, it seems that the downward trend might follow the property market into 2024.

Colby commented:

There was, until recently, some hope that the UK government would introduce a break or reduction in stamp duty, thus supercharging the housing market as we saw when the holiday was introduced during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But, in the end, Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement came and went with no mention of any such tax break, which means the downward trend of portal visits could potentially continue, at least into the early months of 2024.”

It will be interesting to see how the market fares next year. Stay tuned for more updates!

Data tables

Data tables and sources can be viewed online, here.