Surprise Help to Buy announcement prompts fourfold traffic increase on Rightmove
On Sunday, 29th September, the first full day after David Cameron’s surprise Help to Buy announcement, traffic to Rightmove’s Help to Buy section increased fourfold.
Rightmove chalked up 60,000 page views of its Help to Buy pages, a dramatic increase which confirms that the scheme has struck a chord with would-be home movers. The previous Sunday saw just over 14,000 views of Rightmove’s Help to Buy section, consistent with the daily average throughout September.
Miles Shipside, director at Rightmove, comments:
“Such an immediate surge in people coming to Rightmove to find out more about Help to Buy is remarkable but indicative of a lack of accurate information elsewhere. A lot of the talk to this point has been about the politics of the scheme and the implications of government intervention in the housing market but this is the clearest sign yet that, trying to make sense of all the debate, are lots of home movers for whom this scheme is genuinely exciting.”
The Prime Minister announced the immediate introduction of the Mortgage Guarantee phase of Help to Buy late on Saturday evening. The scheme is open to all buyers (not just first-time buyers), can be used on existing properties as well as new builds and means that any buyer benefitting from the scheme will take sole responsibility for the mortgage loan on the property they purchase. The Equity Loan phase of Help to Buy, launched in April, is available only on new build properties and involves the purchaser agreeing to a government loan of up to 20% to add to their own 5% deposit and 75% mortgage loan.
Rightmove’s Help to Buy section provides an area where buyers and sellers can access a plain-English guide to the government scheme as well as a handy calculator to help them understand what they can afford under the new scheme. The section can be accessed here: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/help-to-buy.html
Shipside continues:
“The scheme is open to all buyers looking for a home and all properties up to £600,000. This means an unprecedented audience of home movers and a wider choice for buyers. More than 90% of estate agency branches advertise on Rightmove and 90% of properties listed for sale are under that price threshold. The signs are clear that the scheme will stimulate demand from buyers but, in a market already short on new listings, the onus must be on stimulating supply too. Perhaps the government should focus less on communicating the benefits of Help to Buy for first-time buyers and emphasise that the scheme is open to existing home owners looking to trade up too. For those previously trapped with limited equity, the scheme opens the door for thousands to come to market and is better summarised as Help to Sell and Help to Buy again.”
