House hunting is traditionally an Easter sport — but the opportunity to gaze at pictures of properties online 365 days a year means that the season now starts earlier. Rightmove reported a record number of visits to its website at Christmas. The subsequent price rise suggests that many saw their dream home as they ate a mince pie and were in pursuit before it was time for a Cadbury’s creme egg.
This enthusiasm for the chase may be at odds with the economy’s downcast state but estate agents are discerning a “got to get on with our lives” trend. First-time buyers have also been rushing to exploit the £250,000 stamp duty concession before its withdrawal on Friday.
It would be wrong, however, to conclude that the early spring bounce indicates the housing market has returned to normal. Thousands of would-be movers remain trapped in their homes by a lack of both equity and mortgage finance. But the insatiable craving for an address in an elite London postcode has taken the average asking price in Kensington and Chelsea to above £2 million. In Wednesday’s Budget, the Chancellor is likely to see this statistic as justification for taking an even bigger bite out of this Belgian chocolate bit of the market.