The number of homes bought by ‘single’ purchasers has fallen by an average of 4% over the past five years, conveyancing service provider My Home Move has revealed.
This is the equivalent of around 10,000 transactions a year.
Of the 1.3m property transactions which take place annually, around 60% are now undertaken by people buying with friends, relatives or as part of a couple; enabling them to afford homes worth around £100,000 more than their single counterparts.
Doug Crawford, CEO of My Home Move, said: “With the continuing rise in property prices over the past few years, it is not surprising that the number of people buying on their own has decreased. However what is interesting is the rise in the number of people buying as ‘tenants in common’ and in particular those with ‘unequal shares’, highlighting a growing trend in the way people are affording properties by buying as a collective.”
Having analysed over 100,000 home buying records dating back to 2011, My Home Move has seen an increase in the number of people buying as ‘joint tenants’ and ‘tenants in common with unequal shares’. Those buying as ‘tenants in common with equal shares’ has remained the same, with the number of ‘single’ purchasers decreasing by 4%.
Crawford added: “Buyers purchasing as ‘tenants in common’ are usually not married and as such have an individual interest in safeguarding the investment they put into the property by listing who owns which share. By choosing to buy a property in this way, it means that two or more purchasers can pool their collective resources to afford the best home possible – which according to our research is a property worth up to £100,000 more than if they were buying alone, or £30,000 than if they were buying as joint tenants.
“As such we’ve seen groups of three and four people buying together begin to increase, with the greatest numbers in London, Kent and Essex where property is still very expensive.”