The number of people moving home has reached its highest level since 2007, said Halifax.

The mortgage lender added that the number of home moves hit a record high of 461,000 in the first half of 2021.

That was more than double the number during the same period a year earlier, with an additional 151,040 transactions in the first six months of this year.

The leap in property transactions comes after several years of flat or falling numbers.
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First-time buyers out in force

First-time buyers also returned to the market in force during the first half of the year, with 210,900 transactions, said Halifax. That’s an increase of 74% on the same six months last year.

Those getting onto the housing ladder for the first time accounted for nearly half (44%) of all sales in the first half of the year.

Andrew Asaam, mortgages director at Halifax, said: “The rate and scale of the growth of the homemover market is quite remarkable. After several years of flat transaction numbers then a marked fall at the start of the pandemic, we’re now at a level not seen since 2007.

“There are many factors that have driven this activity, perhaps the biggest of which is the ‘race for space’ amongst those planning to work from home in the long term. The timing of some these moves will also have been influenced by people wanting to benefit from the Stamp Duty holiday.

“It is important to recognize the boom in sales was not limited to movers. There were more first-time buyers in the first six months of this this year, than in the first half of any of the last 10 years.”