The cost of moving house has gone above £12,000, a four percent jump ahead of last year’s figure, according to a Lloyds Bank research. The rising cost is a major turn off for homeowners, discouraging home buyers who plan to purchase new properties. Other factors that have contributed to the rising costs of moving home includes estate agency fees, stamp duty, and home removal costs.
Estate agency fees, being the most expensive fee has been rising by £158, contributing to the triple jump in home prices. However, that comes nowhere close to the costs from stamp duty increases which is also responsible for over half of the national average moving cost increases; prices have risen from £365 – 13 percent – to about £3,262.
Read: Mortgage Guide for First Time Buyers in the UK
Commenting on the development, Lloyd Bank mortgage products director, Andrew Mason said the market is still in a “low mortgage rate environment” but believes “first-time buyers” are a key segment of the market driving the movement.
“A lower availability of the “right kind” of homes for people trying to move up the property ladder, combined with increasing deposits required and the costs of actually moving home like estate agency fees and stamp duty are all challenges faced by those looking to take their next step.”
Location
London takes the lead as the most expensive place to move, as its costs three times higher than the UK average for areas like Scotland and the North Eastern region.
Londoners also spend more of their gross annual earnings on moving home than the rest of the nation, coughing up almost 72 percent of their earnings to change their homes, compared with 34 percent spent in other areas in the UK. Scotland and Northern Ireland are one of the cheapest regions, as residents are pay an average of 18 to 20 percent of their earnings to move.
Residents of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and other areas of the South East have seen the biggest jump over a ten year period. The cost of moving in these areas has seen a 92% jump in the price of moving homes from 2008 to 2018.
Preferred Property Type
The data also identified a detached house in Greater London, which costs on average £723,832, as the most expensive property to buy in Britain. Towing the path of the Lloyds survey is a Halifax research conducted earlier this year. The Halifax study revealed a deep regional divide showing the average price for a terraced house in Greater London as £471,119, while the cost in the north was three times less, selling fro an average of £116,740.
Read: Remortgage Guide for Homeowners in the UK
The research also revealed that the price of flats has gone up by 48% over the last five years in comparison with a 41% rise for terraced homes, 39% increase for semi-detached houses and 38% for bungalows.
Russell Galley, managing director at the Halifax, had this to say about the increase:
“Although flats have recorded greater price gains over the past five years than any other property type, semi-detached and terraced homes have remained the most popular choices for home buyers.”
He also spoke on the preference shift in the type of homes being chosen by first time buyers.
“More than a third of first-time buyers are still choosing terraced homes as their first step on to the property ladder, but we’re starting to see more of them choose detached houses, as the number has crept up in recent years.”
