Stats reveal that Scots don't like moving on Friday the 13th...

With Friday 13th October looming, analysts at Registers of Scotland (RoS) took a peek at its records to see whether this noteworthy date affects people’s property buying habits.

And data reveals that there may be a degree of superstition when it comes to moving house on Friday 13th.

Figures show that, on the last Friday the 13th (in January 2017), 524 properties changed hands, but that on the equivalent Friday on 2016 (15th) more than twice as many (1,321) residential properties changed hands.

The last Friday the 13th before that was May 2016. Only 530 residential properties changed hands compared with 1,076 on the equivalent Friday 2017 (12 May 2016). On the Friday before (6 May 2016) 972 properties changed hands, with 1,110 house moves taking place on Friday, 20 May 2016.

Superstitious

Commenting on the data, RoS’ Operations Director and Accountable Officer, Janet Egdell, said:

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

“Data collected over a longer period of time shows that, from 1 April 2003 to 31 August 2017, an average of 1,163 people moved house on Fridays, with the exception of Fridays that happened to be the 13th day in the month, when only half as many (519 on average) house moves took place.

“It looks as though Friday 13th is a less popular Friday to move than the others in the year. We look forward to seeing over the next few weeks whether this trend continued in the month of Halloween.”

Avoid the property heebie jeebies

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