The average home seller in England and Wales made a gross profit of over £100,000 from their house in 2022, setting a new record.
In 2021, sellers who had bought their home in the last 20 years made £96,220 on average when they sold, 12 per cent less than last year when the average gain was £108,000, according to Hamptons.
The increase in profit has been driven by the sale of bigger homes, the estate agency said. Detached homes comprised 19 per cent of house sales in 2022 and 35 per cent of the properties making six figure profits for sellers.
Cashing in: Covid-era gains to house prices have resulted in record profit for sellers in 2022
Despite the slowdown in the property market towards the end of the year, 94 per cent of sellers last year sold their houses for more than they bought them for.
House prices fell 1.5 per cent in December taking the average to £281,272, down from £285,425, according to Halifax’s latest house price index.
Regionally 84 per cent of the local authorities that saw the average homeowner make over £100,000 from their property sale were in the south of England.
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Sellers are now seeing six-figure profits from their house sales in 52 per cent of local authorities, but London was the only region where the average household gain exceeded £100,000 in every local authority during 2022.
However, due to slower price growth in London, Welsh sellers are now making bigger percentage gains on their house sales than Londoners.
In cash terms, sellers in Kensington & Chelsea in the capital saw the biggest gains of any local authority, with the average household selling their home for £684,510 more than they paid for it an average of 10.4 years ago
At the other end of the scale, properties sold in the North East saw an average gain of £37,890. The area had no local authorities with average gains above £100,000.
Slow house price growth since the 2008/2009 financial crash meant 14 per cent of sellers made a loss on their property, says Hamptons.
Commenting, Aneisha Beveridge, Head of Research at Hamptons, said: ‘2022’s record breaking gains were boosted by Covid-induced changes, with a rising share of sales coming from larger family homes that were typically bought before the financial crisis.
‘However, most of these profits are never seen by sellers as they are reinvested back into the housing market when they make their next purchase which has also increased in value.
‘While there are a number of uncertainties weighing on the market, even if prices do fall this year, it’s likely that over 90 per cent of sellers will still sell at a profit. The other 10 per cent will mostly be flat owners who bought in the last five or so years.
‘The shift away from recent mortgaged homeowners selling cheaper homes towards older, more affluent homeowners selling more expensive homes also looks set to push up gains among sellers again this year.’
