Over 1.5 million UK households are currently wanting to move, moving soon, moving now, just moved or are settling in to their new home according to the latest Property & Homemover Report from property data and insight specialists, TwentyCi.
For the building supplies sector, this uplift of almost 20 per cent since 2019, offers significant opportunity since homemovers are proven to be the most valuable group of consumers spending more than £12 billion a year, over and above the transactional value of their new homes, equating to three percent GDP. This includes people making modifications to their new homes such as new windows and doors.
In comparison to 2019, there has been a 27 per cent uplift in households Wanting to Move, a 32 per cent rise in those Moving Soon, a 47 per cent increase in those Moving Now, a 26 per cent increase in households that have Just Moved, but a drop of 38 per cent across those households Settling In; although this is set to rise significantly as the households in the preceding categories progress through the moving journey.
The data also shows that the property market is maintaining momentum against last quarter’s record high with over 380,000 households still Wanting to Move. Moving Now and Just Moved households have experienced 85 per cent and 165 per cent increases respectively since Q3 2020, which reflects the uplift seen in last quarter’s Wanting to Move households.
Comments Colin Bradshaw, Chief Customer officer at TwentyCi:
“The importance of this group of consumers to building supply companies is critical – particularly at a time when trading conditions continue to be severely impaired. Harnessing the data for targeted marketing campaigns will bring significant gains as these are customers that are actively wanting to buy. Consequently, understanding where they are in the moving journey means you can reach them at just the right moment.”
Other key findings include:
- There are currently 550,000 property sales agreed, these are up 10 per cent year-on-year
- New instructions in 2020 remained level at 1.6 million
- Exchanges are currently down by five per cent in comparison to 2019, as a result of COVID restrictions and demand for conveyancing outstripping supply, but a rush of completions is expected over the coming months as home movers look to expedite the conveyancing process to beat the stamp duty holiday deadline
- Price changes and withdrawals dropped by 17 per cent and nine per cent respectively reflecting market buoyancy where demand is outstripping supply
- The average asking price is now £375,000 an increase of eight per cent since 2019
- The Midlands have recorded the highest increase in house prices (12 per cent)
- The East of England has experienced the highest year-on-year sales volume change with an increase of 21 per cent
- Detached houses are the most popular type of residence with a year-on-year sales volume increase of almost a quarter (24 per cent)
- The lettings sector has softened significantly seeing a fall of close to 10 per cent on new instructions (eight per cent), lets agreed (eight percent) and lets (11 per cent)
