Cost of moving home DOUBLES in a decade: How much will YOU pay?

The cost of moving home has more than doubled in the last decade, data seen by This is Money shows - and stamp duty rises next year will see it soar even further.

In 2014 the cost of moving, including surveys, legal fees, removals and stamp duty, was around £6,534.

But fast-forward to the present day and the figure is just shy of £14,000.

For first-time buyers, the average cost of moving is £2,186, according to the data from Reallymoving. It is lower because they have no selling costs, and at the moment they usually pay no stamp duty.

Buyers and sellers are responsible for different fees. Buyers, for example, are responsible for stamp duty and survey costs, while sellers deal with estate agency fees.

Factoring in all the different fees, Reallymoving claims movers can expect to pay £13,978 upfront.

Movers in London typically fork out £30,048, meaning they are paying more than twice the national average.

This is largely due to considerably higher average property prices in the capital, which drives up stamp duty and estate agent costs which are based on a percentage of the sale price.

The North East of England is the cheapest location to move home, with average move costs coming in at around £5,492 - less than a fifth of the cost in London.

In Yorkshire and the Humber, moving costs are also on the lower side at around £8,225.

Rob Houghton, founder and chief executive of Reallymoving, told This is Money: 'Raising almost £14,000 to finance a home move is a major challenge for many people, especially with the cost of living so high, making it even harder to save.

'We've seen an increase in the proportion of first-time buyer activity in the last few weeks as people accelerate plans to move to take advantage of lower stamp duty bills before they rise next spring, but the window is still too tight for many, so it's wise to budget for higher stamp duty costs just in case.'

For all but first-time buyers, the largest proportion of moving fees are shelled out on stamp duty costs, which, on average for a £375,000 property, come in at £6,250.

Estate agency fees are generally around £4,544. Conveyancing costs normally come in at just over £2,000.

For first-time buyers, conveyancing fees typically reach £1,316, while survey and removal costs are roughly £425 and £445 respectively.

August is typically the most popular month to move, while January and February are the least popular.

Cost of moving set to reach record high In the Autumn Budget , Rachel Reeves failed to extend temporary changes to stamp duty thresholds.

On 1 April 2025, the temporary higher threshold at which stamp duty is payable, currently £250,000, will revert back to £125,000.

On average, in England the average stamp duty bill will increase by £2,500 from £6,250 to £8,750, pushing the total cost of moving to a record high of £16,478, Reallymoving said.

The price at which stamp duty starts to be charged will revert back to £300,000 for first-time buyers, from its current level of £425,000.

Reallymoving said: 'The proportion of first-time buyers paying stamp duty will more than double from 17 per cent currently to 39 per cent when the Government reinstates the £300,000 threshold on 1st April 2025.

'This presents a significant additional upfront cost at a time when first-time buyers are already grappling with high house prices and mortgage rates – as well as extortionate rents which make it harder than ever to save a deposit.'