Grand profits to be made in property reselling game

Homeowners made an average £100,000 on property sales in 2023

The average homeowner in England and Wales who sold up last year made around £100,000 more than the amount they had originally paid for their property, according to analysis.

Estate agent Hamptons, which carried out the research, looked at householders selling in 2023 who had bought their homes in the past 20 years.

It found those who had bought a property within this timeframe and sold it last year sold for an average of £102,650 more than they paid.

This was down from a record gross profit of £112,930 in 2022, according to the research, which used Land Registry data.

More than nine in 10 (93%) of those selling a home in 2023 sold for more than they had paid, having owned their home for an average of nearly nine years.

In percentage terms, the average seller in England and Wales last year made a 48% gain, down from 54% in 2022.

The decrease in average gains is partly due to small house price falls last year, but also because more households moved home sooner, researchers said.

The average 2022 seller had ownedtheirhomefor9.0years, but this fell slightly to 8.9 years in 2023.

One in 12 (8%) of those who sold in 2023 had bought their home two years earlier, increasing from 5% of those who sold in 2022 who had made their purchase two years earlier.

Households who had bought in 2021 and sold in 2023 were disproportionately likely to be selling a home in the suburbs or countryside, Hamptons’ research indicated, suggesting some of those who had purchased properties in the “race for space” during the coronavirus pandemic had had second thoughts.

Despite the quick turnaround, the average vendor who bought in 2021 still sold their home in 2023 for £56,170 or 23% more than they had initially paid.

Slower house price growth in London in recent years has meant that sellers in Wales are now making bigger percentage gains than Londoners, the report also said.

In 2023, the average home in

Wales sold for 53% more than its purchase price, surpassing the London average of 51%.

This reflects the tail end of the housing market cycle, where Wales has had stronger price growth in recent years, in part due to the slower recovery in house prices in Wales following the 2008 financial crash, the report said.

The South Wales Valleys was home to some particularly big percentage gains made by home sellers last year, Hamptons found.

House sellers in Merthyr Tydfil made a 69% or £60,640 average gross profit in 2023.

Those selling in Rhondda Cynon Taff last year made an average gain of 65% or £54,530.

Sellers in Blaenau Gwent, meanwhile, made an average gross gain of 67% £46,390.

The north west of England was also home to hotspots where particularly big house seller gains were made in percentage terms in 2023.

In Manchester, sellers last year made a gross profit of 63% or £84,930; in Trafford they gained 65% – £145,730 – and in Oldham they gained 62% or £66,020.

Higher average property prices mean that London home sellers continue to typically make the biggest gains in cash terms.

The average London homeowner sold their home last year for £204,190 more than they paid for it.

London sellers also tend to have owned their homes for longer, which partly reflects a cohort of would-be sellers whose homes are not currently worth what they paid, researchers said.