The current momentum in the housing market could see one-and-a-half million completions next year, a property listing firm has predicted.
In its report looking at trends in the housing market, Zoopla said this would be an increase on the 1.1 million completions this year.
The firm suggested this would be driven by improved affordability and higher incomes.
Zoopla said first-time buyers would continue to be the largest buyer group, supporting housing chains and allowing existing homeowners to move.
Overall, the firm said house prices would rise by 2.5% next year.
As for how the housing market performed in 2024, Zoopla’s data showed that January was the most popular month for visitors to its website, followed by March and February.
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This aligned with the usual ‘Boxing Day bounce’, which typically sees a rise in property searches on the listing site.
The most popular month to list a home for sale on Zoopla was May, while summer was the most popular period for house viewings and moves. This tracked with data from HMRC, which showed August was the busiest month for completions, with 104,740 property transactions.
It took 33 days on average for a home to sell in 2024, fairly similar to the 34-day average recorded last year. The most popular property type was a three-bed semi-detached home.
Falkirk was the fastest-moving market, where it took just 15 days for a property to sell.
All the top five fastest markets were located in Scotland, with Glasgow City at 16 days and West Lothian at 17 days.
Zoopla attributed this to valuations and surveys being provided when a property is listed.
In England, Liverpool was the fastest moving market, with an average time to sell of 19 days. This was followed by Manchester, at 23 days, and Waltham Forest in London, where it took 25 days.
