Property

Property experts reveal when the best time of year to sell your home is

Greater Manchester house owners, listen up.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 4th March 2025

Ever wondered when the best time to sell your home is?

Of course, when it comes to putting your property on the market, it may be more of a personal choice swaying your decision as to when you choose to list due to your circumstances, commitments, or lifestyle, but for others who just want a quick sale, it’s less about when you’re ready and more about when the prospective buyers are ready.

The Greater Manchester property market has been thriving over the last few years, with house prices rising on both the sale and rental front – and 2025 looks to be no different.

Just last month it was revealed that one Greater Manchester town was named a ‘property hotspot’ after prices there jumped nearly 10% last year, and not long after, it was also found that another similar suburb was named one of the UK’s most expensive places to rent a property.

And now, estate agents across the north and experts from property listing website Rightmove have revealed when exactly to put your property on the market if you want to ensure a speedy sale and secure the best price.

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For sale signs
Keys to a new house
Property experts have revealed when the best time of year to sell your home is if you want a quick sale / Credit: Albert Bridge | Maria Ziegler (via Geograph and Unsplash)

Spring has always been known as one of the busiest times of the year for estate agents, and these stats back that up.

Rightmove says its latest research shows that February and March are the best months to list your home, with seven in 10 (66.3%) homes listed in these months making it to completion, which is the highest success rate of the year.

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Homes listed in February also find buyers the most quickly too, taking an average of 51 days, with March and April following close behind at 52 days.

Property experts say the 2025 housing market has been ‘busy so far’.

Estate agent
Spring time is always one of the year’s busiest periods for estate agents / Credit: Pexels

Buyer demand is up by 8% compared to the same time period last year, and the number of sales being agreed has also risen by 15%, meaning there’ll be more opportunities for sellers to find the right match for their home this year, so if you’re thinking of selling in 2025, it’s probably time to get cracking.

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“These insights should make for encouraging reading for anyone thinking of listing their home for sale soon, as well as anyone who has already come to market this year,” commented Rightmove’s Chief Data Officer, Steve Pimblett.

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“The spring selling season is traditionally one of the busiest periods of the year for agents, and the signs of buyer activity we’ve been seeing are setting the scene for a positive one this year.”

Featured Image – Benjamin Elliott (via Unsplash)

Property

Top 10 cheapest UK areas for first time buyers revealed – and two are only an hour from Manchester

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Houses

The 10 cheapest areas to buy your first house in the UK have been revealed, and two are only an hour away from Manchester.

After it was revealed that more than 70,000 home buyers across England are estimated to have missed the stamp duty relief deadline, which means that they’ll now be required to fork out thousands of pounds extra as of yesterday (1 April), the cheapest places to get your foot on the property ladder in 2025 have now been named.

While the end of the stamp duty relief will mostly affect those who had already previously purchased properties, first time buyers are sadly not exempt, as their current stamp duty threshold of £425,000 has now fallen back to £300,000.

So if you’re looking to buy your first home, this is a list to keep a close eye on.

Handing over the keys to a new house
The top 10 cheapest UK areas for first time buyers have been revealed / Credit: Pavel Danilyuk (via Pexels)

Property platform Rightmove has crunched the numbers and come up with a top 10 list for those on a budget and considering lower-priced areas they can move to, with the Scottish town of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire being named the cheapest area for a first time buyer to get onto the property ladder, as the average asking price for a typical first time buyer-type home here is just over £84,000.

Scotland keeps on pulling through, as the twon of Greenock in Inverclyde is second on the list, with an average asking price of £88,862, followed by Grimsby in third at £93,427.

As far as the North West is concerned, no residential areas in Greater Manchester have made the cut this time around, but the region’s two representatives on the list are only around an hour away from Manchester.

Top 10 cheapest UK areas for first time buyers

  1. Kilmarnock – £84,325
  2. Greenock – £88,862
  3. Grimsby – £93,427
  4. Blackpool – £93,711
  5. Middlesbrough – £95,473
  6. Hartlepool £99,525
  7. Paisley – £99,570
  8. East Killbride – £100,814
  9. Ayr – £101,391
  10. Burnley – £102,848

You’ll have to cross over the border into Lancashire if you’re looking for a budget-friendly first time home, as Blackpool takes the fourth spot on the list, with an average price of £93,711, and Burnley also makes an appearance at number 10 with an average price of £102,848.

The North overall is pretty well-represented, with other towns and cities such as Middlesbrough and Hartlepool featuring in the top 10, but according to the data, Scotland is by far the cheapest country to get on the property ladder in the UK.

Paisley, East Killbride, and Ayr also find themselves on the list lower down, as well as the two aforementioned Scottish towns in first and second place.

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Experts at Rightmove explained that wage growth has unfortunately ‘outpaced’ the rise in average asking prices for first time buyer homes in the last five years, so while this has slightly increased the mortgage borrowing power of first time buyers, affordability is still said to remains ‘very stretched’ overall.

Featured Image – Benjamin Elliott (via Unsplash)

Property

More than 70,000 home buyers set to pay thousands after missing stamp duty relief deadline

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant New build houses

More than 70,000 home buyers across England are estimated to have missed the stamp duty relief deadline.

This sadly means they’ll be required to fork out thousands of pounds extra.

In case you hadn’t heard, up until yesterday (31 March 2025), anyone who was moving and had bought a home in the past was not required to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax, better-known as just stamp duty, on the portion of the property price up to £250,000.

But from today (1 April), this threshold has now fallen back to £125,000, which unfortunately means that property purchasers are facing an extra £2,500 in moving costs, on average.

While the end of the stamp duty relief will mostly affect those Greater Manchester buyers who had already previously purchased properties, first time buyers are sadly not exempt from the deadline changes too, as their current stamp duty threshold of £425,000 has now fallen back to £300,000 as of today.

Keys to a new house
Person holding the keys to a new house in their hand / Credit: Maria Ziegler (via Unsplash)

Given that the average property price for a first time buyer-type home is currently around £227,965, according to Rightmove, the new £300,000 threshold may hit those purchasing properties in more expensive areas – particularly the South East.

A third of those estimated 70,000 home buyers who have missed the deadline are thought to be first time buyers.

Leading property platform Rightmove published an analysis in February into just how much of an impact the end of the stamp duty relief would have on home buyers, all while calling on the UK Government to announce a short extension to the deadline to help people in the middle of the property purchasing process avoid potentially thousands of pounds in extra moving costs.

But despite these calls from industry leaders, there was no extension to the deadline announced in the last week’s latest Spring Statement.

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“It’s extremely disappointing that the Government has not used the Spring Statement as an opportunity to extend the impending stamp duty deadline for those currently going through the home-moving process,” commented Rightmove’s property expert Colleen Babcock.

“We estimate over 70,000 people are going to miss the deadline and complete in April instead, and a third of those are first time buyers.”

Featured Image – James Feaver (via Unsplash)

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