• More than one in 10 homeowners have decided against moving because of cost and mortgage problems
• But a lack of suitable homes to buy is the biggest home moving block, Nottingham Building Society research shows 

More than one in 10 homeowners have tried to move house but decided against it due to stamp duty or mortgage issues, new research* for the Nottingham Building Society (The Nottingham) shows.

Its study found 11% of mortgage customers – equivalent to around 1.2** million homeowners – have given up plans to move house in the past three years due to financial issues including mortgages. The cost of stamp duty stopped around one in 12 homeowners (8%) while 3% of owners – around 327,000 people – were turned down for mortgages.

Younger home movers – those aged between 18 and 44 – were most likely to be put off by the cost of stamp duty – around 14% who had given up buying blamed stamp duty.

The research follows the announcement from the Council for Mortgage Lenders** that the “lull in moving activity appears stubbornly persistent” across the UK market and that it plans to launch a study into “why the number of transactions seems in secular decline”.

Its most recent mortgage market data shows around £4.9 billion was lent for home movers in January which was 4% lower than the previous year with just 23,000 deals completed.

The Nottingham’s research shows mortgage and stamp duty issues are a major factor – but the biggest block on home moving was a lack of suitable houses to move to. Around 25% of homeowners questioned said they had looked but could not find a suitable house.

However around 30% of homeowners said they cannot currently afford to move home so are concentrating on improving their house and around one in five say they cannot find a better house to move to.

Ian Gibbons, Senior Mortgage Broking Manager at Nottingham Mortgage Services (part of The Nottingham), said: “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.

“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.”

The goal of Nottingham Mortgage Services is to offer unbiased mortgage advice through a service that searches over 50 different lenders.

From first-time buyer mortgages, re-mortgages through to mortgage for house purchase and buy-to-lets, it has been successfully helping people find the right deal on their mortgages for a number of years. Its expert advisers search more than 50 lenders across the mortgage market, looking for the best deals. They explain the costs and benefits of each mortgage and will only recommend a mortgage that is right for the customer. Nottingham can help customers with a poor credit history and those looking to borrow into retirement.