Moving home costs nearly £9,500

26 March 2007

The average cost of moving house in the UK now costs £9,486.  That’s according to the website Propertyfinder, which calculates that the cost has more than tripled in the past 10 years. 

Propertyfinder says charges are dominated by higher stamp duty and estate agents’ fees.  It says estate agents’ charges – of £3,027 – have risen roughly in line with house prices, but stamp duty has shot up from an average of £543 to £5,009.  Researchers put legal fees at £1,000 and removal costs at an average of £450.  This analysis of costs does not include fees charged by mortgage lenders or surveyors. 

A spokesman for Propertyfinder said the increased cost of stamp duty in particular was making moving house harder.  Warren Bright said:  “Now that transaction costs, especially stamp duty, are prohibitive, people are more reluctant to move, or are making fewer, bigger jumps up the ladder.”

Back in 1996, stamp duty was levied at 1% on properties sold for more than £60,000.  Many buyers escaped paying the tax, as the average house in the UK costs around £64,000.  But since then, higher rates of stamp duty have been introduced.  Properties worth more than £250,000 are taxed at 3% and those over £500,000 at 4%.  With the average house now costing more than £200,000, most homes in the UK attract the tax when they are bought – even thought the 1% stamp duty charge now applies on properties worth £125,000 or more.