•Average Brit spends £28,952 moving house in a lifetime, compared to £75,972 spent by Londoners
•A single home move in London costs £20,739 compared to £8,264 in UK
•The cost of a home move is equivalent to 31% of average annual national earnings, rising to 61% for Londoners
•Estate agent fees are 80% higher than Stamp Duty for majority of movers
•First time buyers have considerably lower move costs
While the average person in the UK spends £8,264 every time they buy and sell a property, Londoners stump up £20,739 each time they move due to higher Stamp Duty Tax (as a result of higher property values) and greater general costs. Considering people in the UK typically buy four properties during the course of their lives, this equates to a total cost of £75,972 for London residents over a lifetime compared to just £28,952 for people in the wider UK. Londoners can take some comfort from the fact that these costs are in many cases offset by consistently higher annual house price rises.
The greatest cost facing the typical UK home mover, based on an average national property value of £228,000, is estate agent fees costing £4,104, followed by Stamp Duty Tax, costing £2,280. A further £805 is spent on conveyancing for the sale and purchase, £355 on a Homebuyer's Report survey and £60 on an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).
The total cost of a home move is equivalent to 31% of average annual national earnings, rising to 61% for people moving in London, who usually fall within the higher 3% Stamp Duty Tax bracket. At the other end of the spectrum, home move costs in Northern Ireland are equivalent to 22% of average earnings.
Total moving costs for first time buyers are substantially lower at £3,700, since they are not required to pay for estate agency fees, conveyancing on a sale or an EPC. They may also save considerably on removals having a lesser volume of possessions to move.
Rosemary Rogers, Director, reallymoving.com said:
"Taking a chunk of equity out of your sale to cover the costs of a move is no longer a viable option for many sellers who need to keep hold of their existing equity in order to secure the best possible mortgage rate on their new home. As a result, buyers are more prepared to negotiate hard with estate agents over fees and shop around for the best conveyancing and removals quotes to keep costs as low as possible.
"Our Moving Cost Calculator shows that contrary to popular belief, Stamp Duty is only the most expensive moving cost in London and the South East. For the rest of the UK, estate agent fees are 80% higher than Stamp Duty."
To calculate the cost of a home move, reallymoving's new Moving Cost Calculator adds together estimated costs for conveyancing, removals, estate agency fees, Stamp Duty Tax, survey and EPC to give a total cost of moving.
