In the last decade, the cost of moving house in the UK has risen by the staggering seventy percent. However, this is not attributed to a rise of man and van removal services, but by an increase of agency fees and stamp duty costs. Currently, the cost of moving house stands at about ten thousand pounds. The administrative costs of house moving in the UK have also outpaced the steady growth of house prices in general.
In the period two thousand one – two thousand four, the cost of moving house in the UK amounted to twenty two percent of UK residents’ gross annual income. Currently, the figure stands at twenty seven percent of a person’s gross annual income – the five percent increase might not seem like much, but experts say it would be felt heavily by cash strapped households looking to relocate.
The rise of stamp duty fee is the main reason for soaring house moving costs in the country. The cost of man and van removal services though has remained relatively unchanged and expected to even drop slightly because of the falling fuel prices. However, actual labour costs of man and van removal companies are also factored in when forming the service price.
Back to the increase in stamp duty fees – the three percent rise in stamp duty which the government applied in twenty twelve has translated to some seriously high additional expenses incurred by moving households. For instance, the three percent stamp duty fee rise, when applied to a property costing over two hundred fifty thousand pounds, amounts to a hefty tax bill of nearly eight thousand pounds.
Households looking for a mortgage as means to financing their next home are also in for an unpleasant surprise as mortgage lenders are asking big deposits or substantial equity for the best rates available. Despite of all this, a detailed review of the end bill owed by moving households still shows that the biggest fund drainer during a house move is not the man and van service, but the estate agency fee. A whopping thirty eight percent of the total house moving expenses are agent fees. In figures – thirty eight percent of the average house removal cost in the UK would be at least three and a half thousand pounds. The next substantial expense on the list is in fact stamp duty fees – gulping down over twenty percent of the overall removal budget, in figures this is about two thousand pounds on an average.
One of Lloyd’s recent reports has indicated that in the last ten years, the cost of moving house in the UK has actually risen by sixty nine percent, whilst actual property prices have risen by only sixty four percent. Although the difference between the two is not substantial, to put things in economic perspective – during the same (the report) period, inflation in the UK has only risen by forty percent. Overall, an increase of house moving costs is a somewhat sluggish property market is not a good thing, though situation is set to improve.
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About the Author:
Kim Jacobs
Kim Jacobs is a removals coordinator with over 11 years of experience as part of the Get man and van team and other firms in the home and office relocation industry in London. Before joining our company, Kim has worked in various logistical and transportation companies and institutions such as Transport for London, The Removals Ombudsman, and has coordinated moving projects with some of the biggest suppliers of various goods such as IKEA, HomeBase, Amazon, Sainsbury's and others. While working as a chief removals coordinator, Kim also enjoys sharing her expertise with others through writing in our blog.
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