Your need-to-know news and numbers: January 2025.

This is the first edition of our ‘news and numbers’ series of the New Year, and our resolution (like every other year) is to continue being right on top of the property market pulse.

If you were too busy eating mince pies and unwrapping presents last month, don’t worry. Here are some of the news stories that might’ve passed you in December 2024, so you can be clued up in January 2025.

1.7%

We’ve felt the dip in temperature these past couple of months, but have you felt the dip in house prices? During the holiday season, house buyers experienced the gift of a 1.7% decrease in the average asking prices of new properties coming into the market, according to Rightmove.

But the distractions of festivities can only last so long, and we might be looking at the effects of the ‘Boxing Day bounce back’ as we enter the new year. With property searches surging, the promise of a fresh start and new beginnings have people eager to explore their next move.

67%

Working for yourself sounds great, right? Who wouldn’t want to be their own boss?

Changes in lifestyles and working patterns mean the self-employed mortgage market is projected to rise by 67% over the next five years. Yet people are facing problems when applying for mortgages, with more than a fifth of applicants that are considered ‘non-standard’ being rejected.

Together’s Chief Executive of Personal Finance, John Barker, offered his opinion on the outlook of this market to Mortgage Solutions, saying individuals with sporadic incomes need a non-automated response to their applications. Barker said, “As more and more people find themselves to be a sole trader, freelancer, side hustler or majority shareholder, a more inclusive approach is required from the financial services industry where common sense is applied to lending decisions with applications judged on merit”.

£300,000

Rightmove has predicted that the property market in 2025 will start with a bang. The company is expecting a busy year for first-time buyers, home movers and investors with around 1.15 million transactions forecast to complete this calendar year. The first quarter of the year will be especially hectic as buyers scramble to complete planned purchases before April 1st, avoiding the end of the reduced Stamp Duty thresholds for both house movers and first time buyers.

Ahead of the stamp duty holiday ending, we could see some negotiations playing out within the market. Particularly with properties around the £300,000 mark, in attempts to try and take the edge off costs, according to the Evening Standard.

1 / 4

Now that the tree has been put away and the lights are back to a tangled mess in the box (that’s next year’s problem…), we’ve had a look back on the extra energy Brits refused to use when it came to putting their decorations up.

From new research, Go.Compare Energy found that leading up to the holidays, nearly a quarter of people asked weren’t putting up Christmas lights this year. A further 28% said they’d be putting fewer lights up, in hopes of saving on costs.

If this is something you’ve considered, or are pre-planning for the next time Santa comes round, the article has tips and tricks that can be done to keep the bills down. As these tips and tricks aren’t seasonal, they can be used all year round.

12

New build targets was a hot topic throughout 2024, and there’s no sign of the conversation stopping. But, according to an article in The Guardian, think tank campaigners have something to say – new towns have to be walkable, and green.

Think tanks Britain Remade and Create Streets have proposed a detailed plan to build a dozen new towns, that aren’t car dependant. This would mean 550,000 homes would be built in appropriate locations to improve job accessibility and transport connectivity, and these new towns would be lined with gardens and richly layered with trees; designed to encourage residents to walk to work, shops and amenities.

Have a look at the proposed new towns local to you, to see if you’ll potentially be getting some new neighbours.

126%

Another year’s gone by, and we’re all getting older. Or, at least the UK population is.

The average age of a UK resident is now at 40 (up from 36.6 in 2000) and life expectancy up to 81 (from 77 in 2000). This inevitably means shifts in the property market. As a result, the government is looking to prioritise housing for older demographics, to ideally incentivise downsizers.

With heightened demand, the specialist lending market to the retired population is predicted to increase by 126% in the next 5 years. According to Introducer Today, the 2025 forecast is looking up – with the demand for moving heading in the right direction; so every level of the market could feel housing stock loosening up.

That was a snapshot of how the year ended. If you want to navigate the year coming up, take a look at our latest residential property market report. Follow us on social to be the first to hear about next month’s news and numbers round up – we’re over on LinkedIn, Instagram and X.