§ David WrightTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average cost of charges to(a) sell and (b) buy a house has been in each of the last five years broken down by region. [18911]
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§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Wright, dated 30 November 2001:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the average cost of charges when buying and selling a house in each of the last five years broken down by region (18911).Available estimates are of average weekly expenditure on fees for moving house and are shown in the attached table. They are from the Family Expenditure Survey and are for the United Kingdom. Two figures are shown for each year, the first averaged over all households and the second averaged just over the households who had any expenditure on moving house fees.Like all estimates from sample surveys these figures are subject to sampling variability. This is particularly high for an item such as moving house fees because the sample of households who incur such expenditure is small and the amounts they spend cover a wide range. For this reason it is not possible to give reliable breakdowns by region or for buying and selling separately.
Household on professional fees for buying and selling a house United Kingdom 1995–96 to 1999–2000 £per year Expenditure on professional fees for moving house Financial year Averaged over all households Averaged over households with any expend Average annual household expenditure 1995–96 48 1,250 1996–97 60 1,230 1997–98 73 1,260 1998–99 59 1,220 1999–2000 75 1,300 Source:
ONS, Family Expenditure Surveys 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99 and 1999–2000
Crown copyright 2001.