How many homes changed hands in 2020?

Today on the blog we though we would look back at 2020 and the impact Covid-19 has had on the UK housing market.

On previous market updates we have looked at was selling and how despite the pandemic 7% more homes went under offer in Lancaster than they did in 2019. In Morecambe it was a different story, sales were 24% down year on year.

Across the Uk though, new sales agreed were up by 9%. When you consider the first lockdown we had, this is incredible, and it is one of the reasons why you may have been hearing just how busy estate agents were.

Properties that actually changed hands, otherwise known as completions were slightly different. An estimated 1,041,610 residential sales completed in 2020. In spring the housing market paused for several weeks and despite this, sales were only down -11% on 2019. December was a very busy month for completions with many people wanting to get moved before Christmas. 129,400 homes changed hands in December 2020, 32% higher than December 2019 and a monthly increase of 13%. You many now be wondering what happened to the other sales?

Many of the sales that were agreed between October and December 2020 still need to complete. They will be going through the conveyancing process which frustratingly is a lengthy process in the UK. These will be classed as completions in 2021. To give you an example in Lancaster ( LA1 ) 259 homes went under offer. These people will now be pushing to get completed before the stamp duty deadling in March hence there is a currently lots of pressure on the Lancaster conveyancing market!

If you would like to chat property, find out what you home is worth or discuss your future moving plans, please get in touch. At JDG we are here to help. Call us on 01524 843322 or email me at michelle@jdg.co.uk

Thanks for reading

Michelle