Good news: it's cheaper to move!

Mira Bar-Hillel5 April 2012
The Weekender

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The cost of moving house is falling despite the current boom in property prices, a survey reveals today. The average cost of moving from a £100,000 home in England and Wales is now £4,303, down four per cent compared to a year ago.

It will cost £13,545 to sell a property costing the London average of around £200,000 which is down from £14,009 a year ago.

Increased competition among estate agents and solicitors is the main reason for the reductions in their normal percentage fees. The combined cost of selling a £300,000 home is £21,133 - that too is four per cent less than the same move would have cost last year.

The savings, however, diminish higher up the scale. A move from a home sold for £500,000 costs on average £39,433, compared with last year's figure of £40,760.

The Woolwich building society, which carried out the survey, found solicitors' fees had dropped by an average six per cent during the last year. But Andy Gray, head of mortgages at The Woolwich, warned: "People should still note that the cost of moving is still a major consideration - one that they must budget for."

The Woolwich found that solicitors' fees for selling the most expensive houses, costing over a million, have fallen by 16 per cent. The reduction for the average London home, sold for £200,000, was only 7.5 per cent.

Solicitors and estate agent fees vary across the different price bands. Estate agents are accepting 10.6 per cent less for selling a £200,000 home. They are accepting 12.7 per cent less for selling a million-pound home than last March.

The biggest elements by far are estate agents' fees for sellers and stamp duty for buyers.

A spokesman for the Consumers' Association said: "Any reduction in the cost of moving house is good news, and we especially welcome the lower estate agents' fee. However, consumers should be careful about solicitors' fees. If a price war means corners are cut during the conveyancing, the consequences could be serious as well as expensive."

Other findings included: About half of sales in England and Wales take one to two months to complete. The rest take up to four months; More homes in the £300,000-£499,000 price range are sold in the South-East than in Greater London; Two out of three sellers in England and Wales got 95-99 per cent of the asking price for their home throughout 2001. Only 2.5 per cent got the full asking price; Estate agents are split mainly between those who believe prices will rise by up to four per cent or by between five to nine per cent in the next 12 months. Just five per cent of estate agents think prices will drop slightly.

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