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The property market has been slow over the past 12 months, with prices flatlining and houses taking longer to sell as buyers tussle with high mortgage rates.
However, some areas are bucking the trend, with homes shifting more quickly and prices going up rather than down.
A new report by Rightmove has highlighted the hotspots that are defying the slump, and the key aspects of properties that buyers are prioritising.
Read on to find out which areas are most popular with buyers, and for advice on buying and selling in 2024.
Properties in Great Britain are taking an average of 66 days to find a buyer, up from 45 days a year ago.
However, the average drops to just 37 days for properties going on the market in Scotland.
The town of Rosyth, just outside Dunfermline, is the fastest-selling area in Great Britain, with homes marked 'under offer' or 'sold subject to contract' in an average of just 17 days.
Redfield in Bristol is England's quickest-selling area, averaging 25 days.
The full top five is shown in the table below.
| Area | Average time to find a buyer (days) | Average asking price |
| Rosyth, Dunfermline | 17 | £148,000 |
| Stenhousemuir, Stirlingshire | 20 | £182,000 |
| Prestwick, Ayrshire | 20 | £194,000 |
| Uddingston, Glasgow | 21 | £196,000 |
| Falkirk, Stirlingshire | 22 | £159,000 |
House prices stagnated in 2023. Rightmove found asking prices fell by 1.1%, while actual sale prices also dropped by 1.2%, according to the Land Registry.
However, some areas bucked the trend, recording double-digit asking price increases.
The super-exclusive area of Sandbanks in Dorset saw the biggest rise in asking prices. It recorded a 20% increase, bringing its average price to a lofty £1.91m.
But asking prices also rose in some areas with below-average property prices. Hulme in Greater Manchester, South Moor in County Durham and Walsgrave in Warwickshire all made the top five:
| Area | Average asking price | Year-on-year increase |
| Sandbanks, Poole | £1.91m | 20% |
| Hulme, Greater Manchester | £276,000 | 16% |
| South Moor, County Durham | £107,000 | 15% |
| Chobham, Surrey | £1.06m | 14% |
| Walsgrave, Warwickshire | £257,000 | 14% |
Rightmove’s report also highlighted the most popular property features of 2023.
Space was the biggest priority, with buyers most commonly using Rightmove’s ‘keyword sort’ tool to look for the words ‘garage’, ‘annexe’, ‘acre’, ‘garden’ and ‘land’.
Tim Bannister of Rightmove says: ‘While extra space remains a high priority, we also know that more intangible factors are key when deciding on a property.
‘A strong sense of community, friendly neighbours and an area they can feel happy in are some of the most important things movers are looking for.'
Experts think that house prices will fall slightly in 2024. Rightmove predicts a drop of 1%, while rival portal Zoopla forecasts a 2% fall.
The number of property sales went down by more than 20% in 2023, according to HMRC. Whether the market picks up this year is likely to depend largely on what happens to mortgage rates.
With inflation falling, the Bank of England may decrease the base rate, which would have a knock-on effect on the cost of borrowing.
Mortgage rates have already been dropping a little over the past couple of months but remain a major barrier for first-time buyers hoping to get on to the ladder and homeowners who want to move to bigger properties.
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If you're thinking of selling in 2024, you'll need to be realistic about your asking price.
It's very much a buyers' market at the moment, with recent research by Zoopla showing that buyers are achieving average reductions of 5.5% compared to initial asking prices.
With this in mind, you'll need to think carefully about the right time to sell, which agent you instruct, and what's happening to other properties on the market in your area.
This might sound dispiriting, but remember that the person selling the house you want to buy will be facing the same challenge.
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