Masthaven MD Jon Hall says the company are not surprised that the number of homeowners who are moving has fallen this year. His observation comes after recent figures revealed a fall in the proportion of homemovers purchasing properties over the past decade.
According to the Home Mover Review from Lloyds Bank, the first six months of 2017 showed mortgages had been taken out by just 171,300 home movers, down by 2 per cent in comparison to the same period last year.
The average price paid by home movers has seen a significant increase over the past five years, rising by 41per cent to £290,991. During the same period, the average deposit has grown by 40%, increasing from 2012’s average of £68,663 to £96,109 this year.
And Mr Hall said: “We’re not surprised that the number of homeowners who are moving has fallen this year, compared to last year. Recently we gauged homeowners’ views on getting a mortgage and our study suggests many of them feel like mortgage prisoners - half (50 per cent) of UK homeowners surveyed believe if they were to buy a home today they would struggle to get a mortgage. So I believe some people may be reluctant to move if they don’t trust lenders can help them remortgage.
“When it comes to getting a mortgage, we found older borrowers feel particularly uncertain about whether they could get a mortgage. Masthaven believes time has come for the UK mortgage market to adapt to appreciate people’s changing lives.
"While lenders play a crucial role in helping first time buyers onto the property ladder, enabling existing homeowner to move along the property ladder must also be a priority. But if swathes of homeowners are uncertain that lenders can help them, we have a problem that the industry must address collaboratively.”