Another Boxing Day lift predicted for housing market

December 10, 2025 by Brendan O'Neill

Property Market

Observers are predicting that this year will bring another Boxing Day lift for the UK housing market, ahead of what is likely to be a busy beginning to 2026.

This prediction has been made by the estate agents’ body Propertymark, which points out that the day has become very important in recent years. The phenomenon has even been given its own name – the ‘Boxing Day bounce.’ It refers to the fact that people often use the day after the festivities to think about the upcoming year and the future, including potential moves.

This is translated into spikes in activity on property search websites and mortgage lending sites, in addition to requests for January viewings. Now Propertymark has stated that it believes this will happen again on Boxing Day 2025.

Its chief executive is Nathan Emerson. In an interview with Mortgage Introducer, he said:

“Once the festive excitement has passed, people turn their attention to the year ahead and moving home is often right at the top of that list. We expect to see an increase in online searches, enquiries and valuation requests as consumers prepare to act early in 2026.”

This ‘Boxing Day bounce’ has knock-on effects for other parts of the industry, including mortgage advisors. They often find they have higher numbers of customers who are looking for agreement-in-principle decisions, comparisons between mortgage products and affordability assessments. It can make the start of the year a hectic time for them.

Every advisor who has the CeMAP qualification will be hoping this holds true again.