Fri 06 Dec 2019

When are People Going Online to Search for their Next Home?

written by naomi baron

Even with a laptop in front of me, I’ve just checked my latest house search results on my mobile.  With the largest property portals and estate agents having their own easy to use apps, it’s no surprise that most people turn to their phone to locate their next home.  But did you know when the most popular time to house hunt actually is?

According to Rightmove, Wednesday is the peak time for people to be browsing through their property market portal. And, more specifically, it’s between 8 and 9pm on this day.  What is it about “hump day” that leads to this increase of browsing at this time?  Well, certainly the absolute Wednesday peak of precisely 8.48pm coincides with the final advert break of many TV shows, at least this is Mike Shipside, Rightmove Property Expert’s opinion.  Maybe it’s a midweek lull brought on by dual browsing in the evenings that has changed the previous busy lunchtime peak to the evening.

New Year House Hunting

We know that once the mania of Christmas has settled down, the serious business of house hunting for those that have decided to make a move will begin in earnest.  In 2018, February 18^th and a Tuesday at 8pm were the busiest times for Rightmove browsing figures. 

We also know that one the December general election has been and gone, we are likely to see much more activity in the property market on the whole; we expect more sellers to take positive action and list their home if they have been sitting on the fence up until now. 

This is why we believe that if you want to sell your house swiftly in the New Year, it is a really good strategy to list your home now, and capitalise on increased Rightmove traffic that invariably happens between Christmas Day and the New Year.