Selling a home to move to a cheaper, smaller property can cost as must as two luxury holidays in fees and tax charges, according to research by OwnerSellers.
In England, the average cost of downsizing is £17,483, more than the price of two Caribbean cruises for two and 4.68 per cent of the value of a family home sold, OwnerSellers data suggested.
This is based on the value of a detached family home in England, which has an average price of £381,211, and buying a two bedroom apartment at an average price of £268,174.
Agency fees represent the highest cost of downsizing, averaging at £8,234, and are typically 1.8 per cent of the sale price, and stamp duty follows it at a close second at an average of £5,909.
Other expenses add £3,700 to the bill and cover conveyancing fees of buying and selling at £2,050, the survey home buyer’s report at £600 and removals and packing at £1,050 on average.
The most expensive region in London costs £42,332 to downsize and the least expensive is the East Midlands at £9,442.
The average London agency fee is represented by £21,491.
The South East was the next most expensive region for downsizing with total costs similar to the national average of £17,248, followed by East of England at £14,273 and the South West at £12,865.
According to OwnerSellers, in the East and West Midlands, North West and North East, agency fees are by far the larger cost of downsizing compared to stamp duty, which is minimal, as flats are considerably below the value band of £250,001 above which the 5 per cent stamp duty kicks in.
Rupert Cattell, chief executive of OwnerSellers, said: “Extortionate estate agency fees and stamp duty, combine to make downsizing hideously expensive and this is even before you start adding in other key costs such as surveys, removal fees and, legal fees.
“Stamp duty still presents a major cost, particularly for those living in London, South East and East of England, and continues to deter people from downsizing. This is causing a bottleneck in the family homes market, preventing growing families from taking the next step up the property ladder and fuelling the imbalance in the market."
He said one way to limit this is to move to a far cheaper area, but this still leaves a large estate agency bill for selling the family home.
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
