Moving house on Friday 13th

Superstitious Scots avoid moving house on Friday 13th, new figures from Registers of Scotland have suggested.

Friday is the most popular day of the week for people to get the keys to their new home (see table 1), but numbers plummet on what some regard as the unluckiest day of the year.

Table one

Registers of Scotland (RoS) figures show that house moves drop by over half on Friday 13th.

Looking at data from April 2004 to March 2020 and based on date of entry from the application for registration, RoS found that, on average, there were 1,168 house moves on Friday’s that do not land on the 13th.

But on Friday 13th, the average fell to 538 moves.

Chart one

Average number of house moves on Friday 13^th and Friday (but not 13^th): Scotland, April 2004 to March 2020

Figures shows that on the last Friday 13^th – in March 2020 – there were 610 house moves.

A week earlier, on Friday 6^th March 2020, there had been 955 house moves, and seven days late, on Friday 20^th March there were 1,101 house moves.

And on the Friday 13^th before that – in December 2019 – there were 934 house moves.

A week earlier, on Friday 6^th December 2019, there had been 1,434 house moves, and seven days later on Friday 20^th December 2019 there were 835 moves (the proximity to Christmas likely affecting the number of house moves on this date).

Chart two

Comparing house moves on Friday 13th December 2019 and Friday 13th March 2020 with the Friday before, Friday after and Friday the year before: Scotland.

Commenting on the data, Registers of Scotland Accountable Officer, Janet Egdell said:

“We can’t definitively say that people are superstitious about moving house on Friday 13^th.

"However, our data does indicate that, while people overwhelmingly prefer to move house on a Friday compared with any other day in the week, there is a significant drop in the number of people doing so where this lands on the 13th day in the month.

“It looks as though Friday 13th is a much less popular Friday to move than the others in the year. We look forward to seeing whether this trend continues this year.

"To those that are moving house today we hope that it is as stress-free as possible.

"For the superstitious among you please take extra care when moving mirrors between properties and maybe avoid opening any umbrellas inside your new home.”

Registers of Scotland is the public body responsible for keeping public registers of land, property, and other legal documents in Scotland.

Its data is used to publish the monthly UK House Price Index – a National Statistics, widely-regarded as the definitive report on house price inflation.

Notes to editor

1. Supporting tables and charts on Friday 13th and the changes in house moves in Scotland
2. A chi-squared test shows that there is a significant difference in house moves on each day of the week and that there is a significance difference in house moves on all Fridays and Friday 13^th over the period from April 2004 to March 2020
3. Figures are for residential properties only
4. Figure are pre-Covid restrictions
5. The next UK House Price Index including data for September 2020 will published on 18 November 2020