UK Moving Statistics 2026
Citation-ready facts on moving house in the UK: how many people move, when, how long it takes and what it costs. Every figure links to its source. Last updated 8 October 2026.
Key statistics at a glance
1,213,840
UK home sales completed in 2025 (HMRC)
1.8 million
Households in England that moved home in the last 12 months (EHS 2024-25)
216 days
Average time to move, from listing to completion (Rightmove, 2026)
£969
Average removal cost for a 3-bed home, from 1,200+ completed moves
How many people move house in the UK?
1,213,840
Residential property sales completed in the UK in calendar year 2025 - up 10% on 2024 (1,102,480).
Source: HMRC monthly property transactions, Sep 2026 release
1,188,730
UK home sales in the 12 months to August 2026: 1,005,760 in England, 102,410 in Scotland, 53,720 in Wales and 26,840 in Northern Ireland.
131,961
Net number of people London lost to the rest of the UK in the year to June 2025: 420,492 moved out, 288,531 moved in.
Source: MovingCost.co.uk analysis of ONS internal migration estimates
1.8 million
Households in England that moved home in the previous 12 months.
Source: English Housing Survey 2024-25
640,000
Households that moved from one privately rented home to another - the single largest group of movers in England.
Source: English Housing Survey 2024-25
354,000
Owner-occupier households that moved from one owned home to another.
Source: English Housing Survey 2024-25
191,000
Households that moved out of private renting into a home they own.
Source: English Housing Survey 2024-25
967,000
Recent first-time buyers in England, up from 564,000 in 2014-15. Their average age is 34 (35 in London).
Source: English Housing Survey 2024-25
How long do people stay before moving?
13.9 years
Average time a household in England has lived in its current home.
Source: English Housing Survey 2024-25
17.0 years
Average for owner-occupiers, against 12.2 years for social renters and 4.7 years for private renters.
Source: English Housing Survey 2024-25
58%
Share of private renters (2.7 million households) who expect to buy a home.
Source: English Housing Survey 2024-25
When do people move?
165,690
UK home sales completed in March 2025 - the busiest month since September 2021, as buyers raced the 1 April 2025 stamp duty threshold change.
56,970
Sales in April 2025, the month after - the quietest month since the May 2020 lockdown.
20% below
January is the quietest month for completions in a normal year: 20% below the monthly average across 2015-2019. March and August run about 11% above it.
Source: MovingCost.co.uk analysis of HMRC monthly UK totals (not seasonally adjusted), 2015-2019
How long does moving house take?
216 days
Average time to move in Great Britain: 62 days to find a buyer plus 154 days from sale agreed to completion.
Source: Rightmove, 2026
174 days
Sale agreed to completion in London - the slowest region. The North East takes 141 days and Scotland 98.
Source: Rightmove, 2026
169 days
Sale agreed to completion for flats, against around 149 days for terraced and semi-detached houses.
Source: Rightmove, 2026
23%
Share of agreed sales that initially fall through; around 6% fail altogether and do not return to the market within 12 months.
Source: Rightmove
What does the home itself cost?
£273,000
Average UK house price in July 2026, up 1.4% on a year earlier. England £293,479, Wales £215,037, Scotland £196,349.
£550,037
Average London price - the only English region where prices fell over the year (-3.3%). The North East is cheapest at £166,943 (+4.9%).
Source: UK House Price Index, July 2026
£229,302
Average price paid by first-time buyers in Great Britain, against £336,064 for existing owners moving on.
Source: UK House Price Index, July 2026
£4,674
Stamp duty a home mover pays on the average English home (£293,479). A first-time buyer at the average first-time price pays nothing.
Source: MovingCost.co.uk calculation using HMRC SDLT rates from 1 April 2025 - see cost of moving by region
What does the removal cost?
£466 – £1,350
Average removal cost (around 100 miles, removal only) from 1-bed to 4-bed: £466, £552, £969 and £1,350.
Source: MovingCost.co.uk study of 1,200+ completed moves, Jun 2024 - Jun 2026
£575
Average full packing service for a 3-bed home (around 100 boxes) - taking a typical 3-bed move to about £1,575.
£0.93 → £0.65
Cost per cubic foot falls from a 1-bed to a 3-bed move, as the fixed cost of a crew and van is spread over more volume.
100+
Customers who chose to buy late-key cover at booking (average about £95), protecting against waiting-time charges if completion runs late.
Modelled local removal benchmarks by city (Q2 2026)
Benchmark price ranges for a professionally handled local move (under ~30 miles), sorted from most to least expensive. The seasonal index shows how far each city sits above or below the UK baseline (1.00) during peak demand.
| City | Region | 1-bed (local) | 2-bed (local) | Seasonal index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | Greater London | £420–£690 | £620–£990 | 1.16 |
| Southampton | South East | £330–£560 | £510–£830 | 1.08 |
| Bristol | South West | £320–£540 | £500–£810 | 1.06 |
| Edinburgh | Scotland | £300–£510 | £470–£770 | 1.05 |
| Manchester | North West | £300–£510 | £460–£760 | 1.04 |
| Birmingham | West Midlands | £290–£500 | £450–£740 | 1.03 |
| Leeds | Yorkshire and the Humber | £280–£480 | £430–£710 | 1.01 |
| Glasgow | Scotland | £275–£470 | £420–£700 | 1.00 |
| Liverpool | North West | £270–£450 | £410–£680 | 0.99 |
| Cardiff | Wales | £265–£440 | £400–£660 | 0.98 |
What the numbers show
- • London is the most expensive UK city to move in, with local 2-bed moves averaging £620–£990 - roughly 55% more than the same move in Cardiff.
- • Scotland offers two very different markets: Edinburgh prices sit near the southern-England level (index 1.05), while Glasgow tracks the UK baseline (1.00).
- • Seasonality moves prices by up to 16% in peak months (typically late spring to early autumn and end-of-month Fridays) versus off-peak periods.
- • Long-distance moves cost roughly 1.6× a local move for the same property size across most cities in the dataset.
Using these statistics
- • Free to republish with attribution and a link to this page.
- • Cite official figures to their original source (linked under each statistic).
- • Cite our own figures as: “MovingCost.co.uk, UK Moving Statistics 2026” with a link to this page.
- • Figures are benchmark ranges, not fixed quotes - see our methodology.
- • Journalists: media assets and contact details are in our press kit.
Related resources
Leaving London 2026
Where 420,000 Londoners moved to, and who is leaving.
Cost of Moving Home by UK Region
Tax, agent, legal and removal costs for every UK region.
UK Moving Cost Index
The full quarterly dataset behind these statistics.
Moving Costs by Property Size
Detailed breakdowns from 1-bed to 5-bed moves.
Moving Budget Calculator
All-in budget model including legal and moving fees.
Methodology
How we build and validate the index each quarter.
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