Over the last five years, the cost of moving home has risen sharply at more than twice the rate of house price inflation. The main culprit has been stamp duty.

Today, a move from an average semi-detached house priced at £174,744, to an average detached house costing £293,248, will cost around £12,500. Five years ago the same would have cost just over £4,500. These costs include fees for solicitor’s, the Land Registry, local authority searches, estate agents and stamp duty.

This means that moving costs have increased by 176% whilst house prices themselves have risen by 70%. This cost surge has been greatly influenced by the fact that the average price for a detached house has now burst through the £250,000 barrier, the level above which stamp duty jumps from 1% to 3%.

Having said that, competition amongst estate agents and solicitors has put a dampener on some costs although you will have noticed that within the costing we have not included any mortgage redemption fees or removal costs.

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