The average home owner in the UK spent more than £10,000 when moving house in 2018, with first time buyers spending around £1,761, according to a new study.
Collectively those moving spent £9.8 billion last year on moving house in 2018, with the average home owner spending £500 more than the previous year, says the research from Compare My Move.
The cheapest region when it comes to moving is the North East with an average spend of £5,148 and the most expensive was London at £27,769 where for first time buyers it was £7,678, the research also shows.
However, the research, which took into account additional costs including removal prices for moving the average three bedroom home, stamp duty, conveyancing and estate agent fees, and extra payments such as and EPC certificate found that London was the only region where the cost of moving saw an annual downturn.
The second priciest region as the South East with average moving costs of £17,219, followed by the East of England at £14,157. Wales was the second cheapest at £5,561 and then Scotland at £6,192.
Although stamp duty makes up around 35% of the average UK cost of moving house, the tax continues to be the most significant chunk of cost for regions with high house prices. Indeed, it makes up 60% of the moving bill for Londoners and 52% in the South East due to high property prices. In comparison, stamp duty only makes up 8% of the £5,148 moving bill in the North East.
In 2018 movers in Wales paid around £1,000 less due to changes to the stamp duty system as the new Land Transaction Tax meant the average Welsh mover paid only £236 in duty in 2018 compared to the £1,234 that would be billed under the previous system.
The average first time buyer in 2018 had some help in the form of stamp duty relief for properties below £300,000, which meant a saving of £1,392. On a regional level, the average first time buyer paid none of the property tax in every area except London.
This means that the cost of moving in London for first time buyers was £7,678 in 2018, more than four times the national average. Stamp duty amounted to around 74% of the extra costs for Londoners.
The cheapest place to move as a first time buyer was Scotland with an average of £1,331, on account of the lower than average house prices and saving on property surveys as the Home Report is paid for by the seller in Scotland.
While moving house can be expensive, according to Compare My Move co-founder Dave Sayce, unpopular moving days tend to be the cheapest for removal costs. Moving on a Sunday could be 21% cheaper and a Tuesday around 14% cheaper.
‘Always compare at least three quotes for your removals, conveyancing and surveying needs. It’s important to remember that cheapest may not always be best depending on the complexity of your move,’ he pointed out.
‘It’s vital that first time buyers are fully aware of these extra costs. With many young renters taking years to save for a deposit on their first home, these extra costs are a nasty surprise if not budgeted,’ he added.
