Weekend Read: Britain’s ‘secret’ property market generates staggering £30bn in just one year

Britain’s secret property market saw almost £30.9bn worth of property transactions last year, the highest annual market value in well over a decade. 

New figures show that in 2021, 98,235 homes are estimated to have been sold off-market, a 51.4 per cent increase on the previous year and the third largest annual total of off-market transactions in the last decade.

 It was also the first annual increase in the number of off-market transactions since 2017, with off-market sales declining every year since, until 2021.

Real estate investment vehicle Alliance Fund analysed the number of properties that were sold off-market across Britain over the last year, as well as the market value of these secret property sales based on current market values. 

While the average house price across Britain at the time sat at £261,927, off-market homes are thought to attract a 20 per cent house price premium due to hot demand from homebuyers. 

Highest in a decade

With the average off-market property selling for £314,312 in 2021, this means Britain’s secret housing market contributed almost £30.9bn in market value, by far the highest total in the last 10 years. 

So far in 2022 alone, it’s estimated that over 35,000 homes have already been sold off-market, equating to just shy of £12bn based on current market values. 

“When we think of secret property sales, we think of ultra high net worths completing on prime London mega mansions without wanting to draw attention to their latest acquisition,” said the CEO of Alliance Fund, Iain Crawford. “But this sort of market activity actually accounts for a very small percentage of off-market property transactions.” 

But this sort of market activity actually accounts for a very small percentage of off-market property transactions. 

“Many off-market sales are simply homes in areas with overwhelming levels of buyer demand, where stock is sold subject to contract before a for sale board is even erected.”

Iain Crawford

Crawford told City A.M.: “In these instances, agents will have a long waiting list of prospective buyers who are desperate to live within a certain postcode or development, so they needn’t waste the money required to market a home on the open market.”

He added: “While this is a common practice, it’s certainly been turbocharged as a result of the pandemic property market boom, with buyers falling over themselves to secure what little for sale stock was available while mortgage rates remained very favourable.” 

As a result, last year saw the third largest level of off-market sales in the last decade, but with house prices also heightened due to such high demand, Crawford stressed that the overall contribution these transactions made to total market value was by far the highest it has been in the last 10 years.