Big drop in house moves
14th June 2016

The number of people buying homes fell by nearly a fifth last month compared with the previous April, according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics.

Part of the drop may be linked to major tax and financial changes causing some buyers to rush transactions through in March but the figure is still not good news for home improvement businesses looking to gain from the ‘move and improve’ phenomenon, as buying a new home is one of the major triggers for choosing windows, doors and other home improvements.

Some 84,280 house sales went through last month, as against the 98,550 the previous April, representing a drop of 18.7% (seasonally adjusted to 14.5%). The figures are collated via HM Revenue and Customs and record only those purchases over £40,000.

The result comes in the shadow of exceptionally high figures for the end of the 2015/’16 financial year attributed to two separate buying rushes – to get ahead of not only of changes in Stamp Duty on second homes but also the Bank of England’s curbs on buy-to-let mortgages. This may have also been a contributor to the figure for the entire financial year increasing from 1,193,190 to 1,312,610, as against a rise of less than 1.0% in the calendar year.

Non-residential purchases, without the disruption of the two external factors, rose by a more consistent 6% in April year on year or 4.2% in the financial year 2015-6 over 2014-5.