Moving house is a very expensive time for most households, with lots of things to organise and pay for. The stamp duty combined with solicitors fees and the cost of removals and packaging too can add up to quite a sum of money. The mortgage advisor fees are another addition too. 2021 has been an irregular year, with COVID19 taking control of the world. This had a huge impact on house sales and everything that goes with it.
The government began offering a stamp duty holiday, which was designed to encourage people to move house during the pandemic to keep the industry moving. (Excuse the pun). What happened was many households took this opportunity to move house, as the saving was huge, and as more people were spending more time in lockdown at home, they learned to value their homes a lot more, so it was worth moving to a better house in a better location.
People no longer had to work in the office in city centres, so they were able to move out of the city to a less expensive countryside area where they could afford a bigger home. All of this meant that lots and lots of people were moving.
- House prices increased substantially during 2021. More than 10% national house price increases were seen, which made things even more difficult for first time buyers.
- Houses were selling for more than the asking price.
- Banks were not lending as much as usual due to the risk of the pandemic, so many house sales were falling through as the mortgages got declined.
- The cost of packaging materials for moving also increased substantially as demand increased, including boxes for moving house.
Demand for cardboard boxes and other packaging that is usually used for moving house also increased a huge amount during 2021, due to a number of factors:
- Increased demand for boxes from people who were moving house lead to a shortage of cardboard.
- Increased online shopping during the pandemic meant that many more parcels were being sent in the post, and these need cardboard boxes and packaging too, so this also lead to a shortage of cardboard.
- Brexit also happened during 2021 which meant that there were delays on the border from Europe for all major industries, including cardboard which is mainly sourced from Europe. This also helped the shortage of cardboard in the UK.
As there was a shortage of cardboard in the UK, the suppliers of cardboard raised the prices to try to slow demand. Prices of cardboard has increased five times during 2021, by more than 30%. Some suppliers of packaging in the UK have raised their prices substantially to cover this extra cost, and combined with a lack of cardboard available, has seriously damaged the industry as a whole.
So exactly how much do house removal boxes cost for moving house during 2021?
- There are two main types of box; single and double walled cardboard boxes. Double walled boxes are the strongest and most durable and are best for moving, and single walled boxes are the value option which are only acceptable for lighter objects.
- You can usually buy boxes for moving individually as well as discounted packs of five, ten or one hundred boxes at a time. The price per box gets smaller with the more that you buy.
- Different sized house moves are going to require different quantities of boxes, for example a large four bed house is going to need a lot more boxes than a two bedroom flat.
- So we will compare the prices of individual boxes and packs of ten boxes of each type, and discuss the price differences during 2021 compared with the previous year.
- Individually, a medium sized double walled box during 2021 will cost £2.95 on average. This is an increase of £0.50 from 2020. An extra large double walled box individually will cost £5.25 in 2021 compared with £4.50 in 2020 when you buy moving house boxes.
- An individual medium sized single walled box will cost £2.45 in 2021 compared with £1.99 in 2020, and an extra large single walled box will cost £4.15 in 2021 compared with £3.50 in 2020.
- A pack of ten medium double walled boxes will cost £24.50 in 2021 compared with £19.50 in 2020 and a pack of ten extra large double walled boxes will cost £42 in 2021 compared with £37.50 in 2020.
- A pack of ten medium single walled boxes will cost £19.95 compared with £15 in 2020 and a pack of ten extra large single walled boxes will cost £35.95 in 2021 compared with £29 in 2020.
- The price increases come directly from the manufacturers of cardboard sheets who have raised prices to try to slow the demand for cardboard globally, which was caused by an increase in house movers and an increase in online shopping primarily.
- Now that the stamp duty holiday has ended there is still a large number of people moving home due to the increase in home working, so the number of house movers will continue to remain strong during 2022 as well.
- Online shopping is showing no signs of decline and will continue to remain strong into the future as well.
- The demand for cardboard will therefore remain high, and hopefully the price will decline as manufacturers decide to lower their prices once more as they increase their production to meet the demand. However this will take some time and is easier said than done.
- To obtain the best prices on cardboard large moving boxes, take a look online at a packaging specialist. Try to avoid high street prices as these tend to be the highest and offer poor value for money. You can get next day delivery on cardboard boxes online, and the quality will likely be much higher as well.
