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New Year, new house syndrome

Is your New Year’s resolution to move house this year? You are not alone.

Sweeping out the remnants of Christmas is often a good time to take stock of the past and create fresh aspirations for the year ahead. For many people, that means buying or moving to a new home. 

New Year, new house syndrome
New Year, new house syndrome

The thought of one more year renting, 365 more days squeezed into the box room or spending 12 more months living with parents can often be the trigger to get people to take that first step onto the property ladder. House moving websites Rightmove and Zoopla both reported increases of 40 per cent and 36 per cent in site visits on Boxing Day and over the weekend between Christmas and New Year, Rightmove tweeted that it enjoyed 25,147,701 pages viewed on Boxing Day.

However, moving house requires a perfect storm of need, money and energy. You may want to move, but can you be bothered with the whole moving process and upheaval? Can you really afford it? Is it the right time to move for you?

Fortunately, with a new year, all those negative thoughts are often pushed to the dark recesses of the mind as we buy into the ‘New Year, New You’ syndrome and promise ourselves this is the year of change.

On average, it takes three attempts to successfully complete a New Year’s resolution, according to a report commissioned by Freedom Finance. And if you haven’t found your dream house by January 17th, the day largely believed to be when people abandon their resolutions, then moving house could be on the back burner for another year.

The secret is not to give up hope. Dig deep into that feeling of New Year, New House and think of all the reasons why you want to move. To keep your new house dreams on track, accept that it is not going to happen over night. Baby steps are the answer. Start researching the areas you would like to live in, the style of house you like or can afford and what the property market is doing.

The best time to sell is when there are lots of buyers actively looking to buy. And that New Year, New House January feeling means you can expect a lot of activity in the housing market.

Spring might traditionally be the busiest time, but for serious buyers, January is when it starts.