House sales and the economy

11th December 2020

1,111,000 residential transactions are expected to complete in the year to March 2021.

For every residential property resale, an average of £9,559 is added to the UK economy. That is an estimated £6bn added to the UK economy so far this year.

Demand levels and sales activity remain buoyant in the UK housing market. Rightmove report agreed sales were up 50% in October, with properties selling (sold SSTC), in just 49 days, 15 days faster than a year ago.

Buyer demand across England was 49% higher year-on-year during the beginning of of Lockdown 2.

Rightmove estimate that there are 650,000 sales going through the buying and selling process, 67% more than at the same time in 2019. This will be a huge boost to the UK economy.

The market is currently strongest in the higher price brackets. Year-on-year has been a 106% uplift in sales priced £400,000–£500,000 compared to just 16% for those priced £100,000–£200,000

Activity levels are also higher in the regions where average property prices are the highest, buyers set to make bigger stamp duty savings in these locations.

On average £5,400 is spent on renovations and new household goods, £3,100 on estate agency and legal fees and the rest comes from spending on removals and property surveys.

The housing market also helps support jobs, per 100,000 transactions a total of 11,557 jobs are directly or indirectly supported.

1,111,000 residential transaction are expected to rise to 1,279,000 in the year to March 2022.

Source: Dataloft, Rightmove (October 2020 v October 2019) Knight Frank, Home Builders Federation, Office for Budget Responsibility