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First-time Buyer

£11k – the cost of moving home

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
19/09/2016

The average cost of moving house in the UK is now almost £11,000, according to Lloyds Bank.

It said the figure has increased by £870 over the past year to £10,996. This 9% rise dwarfs the 0.5% increase in the consumer price index and annual growth in average earnings of 1.5%.

Rising house prices are behind the increase in moving costs, pushing up estate agency, Stamp Duty and conveyancing fees, all of which are typically linked to the purchase price.

Higher estate agency fees account for more than half of the increase in average moving costs, which have risen by £4,023 (8%) to £5,404 in 2016.

Average Stamp Duty costs have increased by £372 (17%) to £2,504 and legal costs are up by £93 (8%) to an average of £1,251.

Capital expenditure

Greater London has seen the average cost of moving increase more sharply than other regions over the past year – by £4,732 (18%), more than five times the national increase of £870. This is largely down to the fact that Greater London house prices have risen by 14.5% over the past year compared to the UK average of 8.5%.

The average moving cost in London stands at £31,416 – nearly three times the UK average – and the average homemover in the capital pays more than £15,000 in stamp duty and £11,000 in estate agency fees.

The cost of moving in the capital equates to a substantially higher proportion of annual gross earnings than nationally: 72% against 32%.

Mike Songer, mortgage director at Lloyds Bank, said: “The cost of stepping up the housing ladder has continued to rise sharply over the past year. As a result, the cost of completing a home move in the UK has grown significantly over the past decade, to nearly £11,000.

“This trend is especially marked for buyers in London and the South East with the combination of both higher property prices and more rapid increase in prices in recent years resulting in significantly higher moving costs in these parts of the country.”