Stamp duty or mortgage related issues have meant one in ten homeowners have given up on plans to move home.
Research from Nottingham Building Society has indicated that in the last three years, around 1.2 million homeowners have decided against moving home due to numerous financial issues.
Whilst around 8% were put off by the cost of stamp duty, an estimated 3% were turned down having applied for a mortgage.
The cost of stamp duty had the biggest impact of those aged between 18 and 44, with around 14% of this demographic citing it as their reason for not wanting to move.
The findings come in the wake of the CML’s announcement, highlighting that within the UK market, the “lull in moving activity appears stubbornly persistent”. Following this, it aims to launch a study into the “secular decline” of transaction figures.
Although stamp duty and mortgages were significant in affecting people’s moving plans, the largest obstacle indicated by the Nottingham research was an absence of appropriate housing to a move to. Around a quarter of respondents stated that despite looking, they had been unable to find a suitable property.
The results also seemed to suggest that people are choosing to focus on their own home as they put moving plans to one side. Around 30% of homeowners stated that due to affordability issues, they are concentrating on improving their own home, whilst around one fifth claim that they are yet to find a better home than their current one.
Commenting on the moving market was Ian Gibbons. The Senior Mortgage Broking manager at Nottingham Mortgage Services highlighted that despite the wide selection of offers and advice available to borrowers, the number of people moving was failing to increase.
“The mortgage market is generally performing well with growth in remortgaging and for loans to first-time buyers with strong competition from lenders.
“There are a wide range of deals and advice available for all types of borrowers but the home moving market is still not expanding which points to wider issues than simply mortgages or stamp duty as the blocks in the market.
He went on to highlight the lack of available housing and the need for consumers to obtain advice on their individual circumstances.
“Home movers clearly are also struggling to find suitable homes to move to which turns the spotlight on improving their existing homes rather than moving. The key to remortgaging successfully is to search the market for the most appropriate deal and to get advice on options particularly for older borrowers who may need to extend their loan into retirement.”
