Sales this year to be highest since financial crisis

The number of house sales in 2021 is set to hit a 14-year high, according to the latest forecast from online estate agent Zoopla.

The firm said it expects the UK to see 1.52 million house sales this calendar year, a rise of 45% compared to 2020, and the first time the figure has exceed 1.3 million since the 2007-09 global financial crisis.

This would push the value of sales made to a staggering £461bn, 68% above the level seen before the pandemic in 2019. Zoopla said £149bn of homes had already been sold subject to contract in the first 15 weeks of the year.

The firm said it was continuing to see strong increases in house prices in most areas of the UK, boosted by the stamp duty cut but likely to continue after the cut is withdrawn as buyers reassess their housing options in the light of increased levels of home-working.

Annual house price inflation across the UK, weighted for property type, was running at 4.1%, Zoopla said. This is much lower than the 10.2% recently reported by the Office for National Statistic because the Zoopla number takes into account the type of property being bought.

The figure was lowest in London, where annual price inflation is 1.9%, compared to more than 5% in Wales, Yorkshire and the Humber and the North-west.

While Zoopla said demand remained well above last year – it is currently 29% up on 2020 so far – it said there were signs that it had peaked in the first quarter of the year.

It added: “Demand levels will continue to fall back, but we expect they will remain elevated compared to more ‘normal market’ levels […] throughout the rest of this year.”

Gráinne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla said: “Buyer demand looks set to ease as the economy opens up, but it will remain elevated compared to previous years, which we anticipate will create one of the busiest sales markets in more than a decade in 2021.”