Average home sells just once every 23 years

Turnover in homes has "drastically slowed" over the past 30 years as the rented sector has grown, people are taking longer to buy their first homes and middle-aged homeowners stay put in their properties.

Research by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association found the average home changes hands every 23 years - up from every 8 years in the 1980s.

The annual turnover of the UK's private housing stock fell from over 12 per cent to 4.5 per cent in the past three decades. The trend had the potential to limit mortgage lending and restrict access to existing properties, exacerbating the housing supply crunch, the IMLA said.

Peter Williams, IMLA executive director, said: "These figures paint a picture of a housing market where turnover has drastically slowed in the last thirty years. Quite simply, in the absence of a sustained rise in housebuilding and improved affordability and turnover, the fact that properties are coming on to the market less frequently severely limits the scope for would-be first time buyers to graduate to owning their own homes.

"Inertia in the property market spells danger for future owner-occupation levels, and the growing influence of cash and equity is sowing the seeds of a permanent social divide."

People are using less mortgage finance to buy homes, the IMLA added, with cash or equity making up 58 per cent of purchases in 2014 - the highest rate on record. The IMLA expects gross mortgage lending to rise slightly over the next two years, but nonetheless predicted the cash and equity element would surpass 60 per cent by 2016.

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