Over 40% increase in people looking for Man and Van businesses in 2024
Between December of 2023 and February of 2024, there has been a sharp increase in people looking for Small Move and Man and Van services. Compare My Move data has found that there has been a 41.3% increase in people searching for these types of services in the UK.
With house prices falling for the first time in 6 months, we expect to see this demand in small move companies continue throughout the rest of 2024.
With such an increase so early in the year and a continued recovery of the property market from 2023, we ask the question of whether starting a Man and Van business is a good idea in 2024, looking at statistics from the previous year and industry trends.
When are Small Move businesses needed?
It’s common for people to move from apartment to apartment in a large city, and in 2023, large cities in the UK saw an average of 47.7% of their movers stay in the city they moved from.
Three cities with over half a million residents saw over half of their movers stay in the city. London, the largest city in the UK, saw 51.8% of their movers staying in London.
Mover Retention Table
| City | Population | Mover Retention % |
|---|
Sheffield | 685,368 | 53.8% |
London | 7,556,900 | 51.8% |
Glasgow | 591,620 | 51.7% |
Liverpool | 864,122 | 49% |
Bristol | 617,280 | 48.5% |
Swansea | 300,352 | 48.5% |
Nottingham | 729,977 | 47% |
Edinburgh | 464,990 | 43.7% |
Leeds | 455,123 | 42.9% |
Cardiff | 447,287 | 42.3% |
Sunderland | 335,415 | 42.2% |
Birmingham | 984,333 | 38.6% |
Coventry | 359,262 | 38% |
Leicester | 508,916 | 35.5% |
Stoke-On-Trent | 372,775 | 34.2% |
Preston | 313,332 | 33.2% |
Newport | 306,844 | 32.9% |
Manchester | 395,515 | 31.8% |
Population source: https://worldpopulationreview....
This means that over half of Londoners who moved last year would have moved a relatively small distance, possibly even less than a few miles, which is where a man and van or small move business comes in handy.
In 2023, 41.2% of people who used Compare My Move were residents of a bungalow or apartment and over half (51.5%) of users were residents of a 1-bed or 2-bed property.
Therefore, a majority of people looking to move house or for services surrounding moving house lived in smaller properties, and with the market moving to favour sellers, the popularity of smaller properties is likely to continue.
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What Does Man and Van Look Like in 2024?
We asked Dave Sayce, Managing Director and Founder of Compare My Move what’s in store for small moves in 2024:
“On average, people looking for small move companies or Man and Van companies has increased considerably in both January and February from the final month 2023. The seller market in the property industry is also looking lucrative, with house prices rising year-on-year and a reduction in the higher rate of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) for people selling residential property from 28% to 24% from 6 April 2024. People selling means people moving, and if the trend of people moving within the city instead of out of the city continues then Man and Van businesses are going to be needed and utilised.”
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