Increase in older homeowners selling for first time in decades

In research conducted by real estate agency Hamptons, it calculated that the average seller marketing their home this year bought their property 14.3 years previously – up from an average of 13.5 years in 2022 – a significant increase because these numbers don’t move particularly quickly.  

As such, the housing market is being increasingly driven by those who’ve owned their homes for longer – with the sellers who put their home up for sale so far in 2023, 32% bought their properties at least 20 years ago, up from 27% in 2022.  

In contrast, fewer people who bought their homes within the past five years have put them up for sale this year – with the proportion dropping by one percentage point to 15%. This, according to Hamptons, potentially reflects the fact anyone who purchased at the height of the pandemic would possibly face selling their home for less than they paid.  

Despite this, the average seller who bought their property within the past few years has listed it for sale for £77,000 – or 30% more than the amount they bought it for. Meanwhile, the average seller who owned their home for longer have advertised their home for £190,000 – or 157% – more than what they paid.  

Additionally, those vendors who purchased more than 20 years ago are set to make the largest average gains at £292,000, or 355% as these homeowners have reaped the benefits of strong capital growth and have likely either paid off their mortgage or are very close to doing so. Therefore, if they are downsizing, they will be able to extract some of the proceeds from these gains.