Busiest ever Boxing Day on Rightmove as home-hunters prepare for 2026 move

• Rightmove has recorded the busiest ever Boxing Day for visits to its platform:
  • Visits to Rightmove on Boxing Day 2025 surpassed the previous record set in 2024
  • Visits to Rightmove nearly doubled (+93%) from the quietest day of the year Christmas Day into Boxing Day, a bigger bounce in visits than last year
• Bounce in home-moving activity from Boxing Day after the usual festive lull:
  • The number of people sending enquiries to estate agents to go and view homes for sale increased by 67% in the five days after Christmas compared to the five days before Christmas
  • The number of new properties being listed for sale on Rightmove more than doubled (+143%) in the five days after Christmas compared to the five days before Christmas
• Home-moving activity was busiest in the South East, while the most popular type of properties to be listed for sale were typical first-time buyer homes with 0-2 bedrooms

Rightmove, the UK’s largest property platform, recorded its busiest ever Boxing Day for visits as home-hunters began preparations for a potential 2026 move.

2026 in numbers

Boxing Day on Rightmove has traditionally signalled the start of the busier home-moving season after what is typically the quietest period for activity during the festive month of December.

Visits to the Rightmove website across all channels were higher on Boxing Day 2025 than in 2024, which was the previous record for visits to the Rightmove platform.

Visits to Rightmove nearly doubled (+93%) between the quietest day of the year on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, as potential movers swapped board games and Christmas specials for home-hunting. This was a bigger bounce in visits to Rightmove than last year, when the increase was 87%.

A big Boxing Day bounce in activity

While home-moving activity is set to ramp up through January and into the peak Spring selling season, Boxing Day typically sees home-moving activity start to increase.

The number of people sending enquiries to estate agents to go and visit homes for sale increased by 67% in the five days after Christmas compared to the five days before Christmas.

Meanwhile, the number of new properties being listed for sale on Rightmove more than doubled (+143%) in the five days after Christmas compared to the five days before Christmas, as sellers worked with expert agents to launch their homes when there are more potential buyers browsing.

Boxing Day 2026 trends

New buyer and seller activity this Boxing Day was busiest in the South East, East of England & London.

The most popular type of homes to be listed for sale on Boxing Day were smaller 0-2 bedroom properties, which first-time buyers typically aim for.

Steve Pimblett, Rightmove’s Chief Data Officer says: “It’s early days but Boxing Day’s data suggests agents could have a busy start to 2026 after a quieter festive period during December, which was also impacted by the lateness of the Budget and the uncertainty around potential policies in the lead up to it Record breaking visit numbers indicates many are looking to put some of the uncertainty of last year behind them and get going with a 2026 move.”

ENDS

Notes to editors: 

• First-time buyer: This figure represents the typical property a first-time buyer would purchase, covering all two bed properties and smaller that come to market (houses and flats)
• Second-stepper: This figure represents the typical property of a person moving from their first home, covering all three and four bed properties that come to market (houses and flats) excluding four bed detached houses.
• Top of the ladder: This figure represents asking prices at the top end of the market, covering all five bed properties and above (houses and flats), as well as four bed detached houses.

About Rightmove

• Rightmove has the UK’s largest selection of properties for sale and to rent, adds more listings than anyone else, and over 80% of all time spent on property portals is on Rightmove
• Rightmove’s vision is to give everyone the belief that they can make their move by giving people the best place to turn and return to for access to tools and expertise to make it happen
• Users can search Rightmove for residential resale, new homes, rentals, built for rent, commercial property and overseas properties. Rightmove also provide an extensive range of tools and information assisting their home moving journey, including but not limited to: local sold prices, online property valuation, agent visit requests, moving guides, mortgage in principle certification, renovation calculator, extension explorer, home services for renters like utilities, media and insurance, school information, moving guides and sustainability information
• Partners (Rightmove’s customers) include the following key groups: estate agents, letting agents, new homes developers, rental operators, commercial property operators, overseas property agents, financial services operators and home services providers for insurance, utilities and media
• Using the UK’s largest housing datasets, we issue a number of regular reports to track housing market indicators: our monthly House Price Index (established 2002), quarterly Rental Trends Tracker (established 2015), weekly Mortgage Rates Tracker (established 2023) and quarterly Commercial Insights Tracker (established 2024). Historical data is available on request
• Founded in 2000, Rightmove listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and is a member of the FTSE 100 index