You’ve probably read about the ‘Boxing Day Bounce’ in press reports on the property market. In this blog we look at what it means for the West Wales property market as 2025 nears its end.
What does it mean?
The Boxing Day Bounce is when there’s a surge in people looking at properties on Boxing Day (after all the Christmas festivities have died down). This generally leads to a big uptick in property sales at the start of the new year, with websites such as Rightmove seeing a jump in visitors and estate agents having more enquiries than normal.
Is it real? From our experience, yes it is and this year appears to be no exception. Rightmove is already predicting a bigger than usual Boxing Day Bounce this year, driven by a 1.8% decrease in house prices through December and renewed positivity after the November Budget.
The run up to that Budget was quieter than normal for the property market, due to the rumours circulating about potential tax changes. Many potential movers paused their plans due to uncertainty about what the Budget would bring, but in the end these nerves were unfounded for the vast majority of the market. With that nervousness removed, Rightmove is predicting a stronger than normal demand for post-Christmas home moving.
In fact, Rightmove surveyed over 10,000 potential movers and found that nearly one in five were waiting for the outcome of the Budget before re-starting their moving plans. Now Rightmove says that there are already “very early signs of a post-Budget market rebound” in some segments, though it adds that the usual festive slowdown has delayed a wider bounce-back.
However, falling mortgage rates are giving buyers the confidence to borrow more, as well as attracting more first time buyers and those trading up – which is all good for the market and is likely to boost activity through 2026.
This week also sees the next interest rate announcement from the Bank of England. There is hope among many for a cut from 4% to 3.75%, which would add to the positivity – we’ll be watching closely on the 18 December.
What does it mean for West Wales?
For us at Cardigan Bay Properties we’re seeing the reality of this. We’ve been incredibly busy since the Budget was announced and the Chancellor confirmed her changes – far busier than normal at this time of year, when many people are focused on their plans for the Christmas period.
We have agreed sales and received offers on a range of larger properties, with several listed over £500,000 – this comes after the rumoured tax changes for this price bracket didn’t happen in the Budget. Buyers have lost their nervousness and proceeded to go after the top end properties that they are looking for.
In the run up to the festive season we generally see a bit of a slow down as most people put house moving plans on the back burner as they focus on preparing for Christmas, however so far we’re not really seeing this in West Wales. Although we do expect next week to be much quieter.
But once the turkey has been eaten and the presents opened, Boxing Day always gives people time to reflect and use free time to search online – not just for the Boxing Day sales, but also to help with their house moving plans for the coming year.
With a slight fall in prices and more confidence in the market following the Budget, we’re expecting Rightmove’s prediction of a strong Boxing Day Bounce to ring true in West Wales.
If you’re planning to move home in 2026, why not get in touch early to see how we can help?