Whether it’s shelling out for new furniture or renting a removal van, there are all kinds of costs involved with buying a new home — and these can very quickly add up.
A new study has crunched the numbers, and it now costs a staggering £17,831 on average for those who already own a home in England to move from one property to another.
According to ReallyMoving’s annual Cost of Moving report, this marks an all-time high, as the cost of moving has increased by 27% since 2024 — when the average mover shelled out £14,045.
So, how does the breakdown work?
If we consider that the typical price homeowners buy for has now hit £395,000 across the country, the total paid in stamp duty works out at £9,750; estate agent fees cost £4,615; conveyancing £2,182; the survey £510; a removals van £709, and the EPC certificate (AKA the Energy Performance Certificate, which confirms the energy efficiency band your home sits in) £65. Ouch.
How much does it cost first-time buyers to move home in 2025?
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The situation is slightly better for first-time buyers, but when we consider just how pricey getting on the ladder is these days (the average home now costs £270,000, according to Zoopla’s latest House Price Index), it’s hard to see it as a win.
Once they’ve cobbled together a deposit and likely battled it out with landlords for a number of years, first-time buyers tend to pay out £2,315 to move.
The data has considered that the median price FTBers currently pay for a new home is £253,800, which means that stamp duty comes in at a grand total of zero, considering that first-time homes under £300,000 are exempt.
There’s also no need for FTBers to foot the bill for an EPC, considering that they don’t have any buyers to transfer this information to.
However, conveyancing does form the heftiest cost, coming in at an average of £1,421, while the survey tends to cost £462 and a removals van £432.
How much does it cost to move house in London in 2025?
Naturally, the situation is even more expensive for homeowners in London, where it can cost a whopping £32,786 to buy and sell a property, mainly because of higher house prices driving it all up. Again, ouch.
Using a median property price of £635,000, movers in London are looking at the following costs if they want to relocate in 2025:
- £21,750 in stamp duty
- £6,887 in estate agent fees
- £2,859 in conveyancing costs.
According to Rob Houghton, ReallyMoving’s founder and CEO, the new report shows damning implications for first-time buyers in particular.
‘For first-time buyers, the challenge doesn’t end with saving a deposit – the cost of moving is creeping ever higher in every region of the country,’ he says of the new report.
‘Even small increases in fees and services can have a real impact when finances are already stretched by high rents and the cost of living. It’s easy to see why the market share of first-time buyers in England and Wales has dropped by 6.6% since January – a 10.4% fall – as affordability pressures force growing numbers to put their home purchase plans on hold.’
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