Recession saw home moving hit record low
Thursday, 10 February 2011 10:57The credit crunch led to the lowest proportion of recent homemovers on record in the UK, according to new figures released by the Official of National Statistics, which show that during 2008/09 only 9 per cent of households had moved to their current address within the previous 12 months.
This is the lowest proportion since records began in 1994/95 and is reflected in a 44 per cent annual decline in the number of property sales over £40,000 as recorded in 2008.
The resultant house price slump of around 8 per cent year-on-year has led to many being tempted back into the market, although activity levels have not yet recovered to their pre-recession levels.
The level of repossessions during the recent recession has been kept under control however, as the ONS figures show that the 2009 peak of 47,900 repossessions is still well below the 1991 record high of 75,500.
Social Trends editor, Jen Beaumont said: “In the recent recession we have seen a large rise in repossessions, but not to the same extent as in the previous recession of the 1990s. This could in part be due to lower interest rates and unemployment this time round.”
