Sellers made an average of £95,360 profit when they sold their home last year, figures show.
This ranged from those selling detached houses for £151,840 more than they paid for them to those selling flats and pocketing £54,690.
“Soaring house price growth over the last 18 months has driven up the amount of money homeowners have made. But while owners of larger properties have benefited from buyers looking for more space, flat owners have seen weaker returns,” said Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, who compiled the data.
One in five (19 per cent) of flat-sellers made a loss on their property last year compared with just 4 per cent of detached house-sellers as buyers increasingly sought properties with outside space and cladding safety issues continued to impact the sales of flats in cities.
The researchers found that the average seller in England and Wales who bought a property within the last 20 years and sold it last year made a 46 per cent gross profit of £95,360, up from £83,550 the year before. A record 92 per cent of sellers sold their property for more than they bought it, having owned it for an average of 8.8 years, according to Hamptons.
Greg Tappenden, 31, a management consultant, sold his two-bedroom mews house in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in September for £15,000 more than he had bought it for just 11 months previously. “I decorated every inch of it, but I think the market was rising anyway. I negotiated a good price for it when I bought it which helped.”
Tappenden moved in with his wife, Alice, 31, in Bristol and the pair are now selling her three-bedroom maisonette in Totterdown where, he said, “the market is crazy”. The first offer the couple received, this weekend, was £65,000 more than she paid for it two years ago. “It had just been renovated when she bought it so we haven’t done much, just put furniture in and made it really homely.”
The couple are putting the money they make on the two sales towards buying a three-bedroom flat in Clifton, Bristol. “I feel very lucky to have owned property these last couple of years. I only bought my first place four years ago, if I hadn’t I would struggle to get on the ladder now,” he said.
The average home has gained £24,537 in the last year alone according to Halifax, although forecasters expect house price growth to be more subdued this year with interest rates, the cost of living and national insurance all set to increase.
“The record rise of 2021 may be followed by the big squeeze of 2022 as rising energy bills, mortgage rates and inflation, frustrate family finances. We do not believe house prices will fall in 2022, but the big squeeze is likely to subdue house price growth in the coming months,” Anthony Codling, chief executive of the property platform Twindig, said.
Beveridge, of Hamptons, agreed: “House price gains last year may have been close to their peak. Twenty twenty one’s average seller bought in 2012, since when house prices across England and Wales have risen by 55 per cent. However, 2022-2024 sellers are likely to have bought more recently, during a period of weaker price growth. We’ve already seen this in London, where seller gains have been falling since 2016.”
Property sellers in London made an average of £197,730 last year, the highest absolute amount gained in the country but £9,640 less profit than they would have made in 2020. The largest increase in profit was seen in the South West of England where sellers made an average of £90,070, £11,690 more than they would have made the year previously. Sellers in the North East were least likely to make a profit last year. The average seller in the region made an average gross gain of £28,960 with 22 per cent selling their home for less than they bought it.
The average gain on a terrace property rose to £79,370 (£8,820 more than in 2020) and semi-detached sellers made £92,430 (£11,100 more). Hamptons estimated that sellers across England and Wales made a total gross gain of £128 billion from property sales in 2021.
