Years of strong price growth meant sellers in England and Wales netted the impressive profit despite house prices falling last year, according to Hamptons.
Analysis of Land Registry data by the upmarket estate agency showed that the average household in England and Wales that bought a property within the past 20 years and sold it in 2023 made £102,650, equating to 48 per cent more than they paid for it. That is the second highest figure on record.
According to Nationwide, house prices fell by 1.8 per cent during 2023, while the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported last week that typical UK property values fell by 2.1 per cent in the year to November.
Hamptons’ analysis of Land Registry data showed that overall 93 per cent of households sold their property for more than they paid for it, with the average seller owning their property for just under nine years.
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, said: “These proceeds are mostly reinvested back into the housing market and go towards the purchase of another home, so they are rarely realised in cash terms.”
The figures also showed a spike in the number of households selling up after just two years, with about 8 per cent of those who sold a home in 2023 purchasing it in 2021. Hamptons said these properties “were disproportionately likely” to be in the countryside, a small town or the suburbs, suggesting that many people who relocated out of cities during the pandemic later reversed their decision.
Beveridge said: “The spike in the share of households moving within two years … suggests an unwinding of ‘the race for space. Most of these sellers are selling larger homes in the country, often in favour of a move back to the suburbs or city.”
However, even people who sold after two years still netted a profit; the average seller who bought in 2021 and sold in 2023 made an average of £56,000.
Slower house price growth in the capital means sellers in Wales are now making bigger gains than Londoners in percentage terms. In 2023, the average home in Wales sold for 53 per cent more than its purchase price, while in London the average was 51 per cent.
