Buyer demand rises 5% in the first week of September, against a 0.4% five-year average for that week

Rightmove reported that buyer demand rose 5% in the opening week of September, compared with an average increase of 0.4% for the same week over the past five years. The post-summer return is normally a modest seasonal step, so a rise of this size suggests buyers who paused over the holidays have come back faster than usual, and it narrowed the annual shortfall from 14% below last year at the end of August to 9% in the first week of September. For sellers weighing an autumn launch, that points to a deeper pool of active buyers than the year-on-year figure alone implies, and for buyers it means more competition than they faced in August. Demand still sits 9% below the same week last year, and a single week of portal search activity is thin evidence on which to call a turn in the market.