Cost of upgrading real estate doubles in U.K.

The average cost of climbing on to the second rung of the housing ladder in the U.K. has more than doubled in the past decade, according to a report from Housesimple. Homeowners upgrading from a flat to a terraced or semi-detached house needed to find an extra £75,388 (US$97,971) on average in 2018, the real […]

The average cost of climbing on to the second rung of the housing ladder in the U.K. has more than doubled in the past decade, according to a report from Housesimple.

Homeowners upgrading from a flat to a terraced or semi-detached house needed to find an extra £75,388 (US$97,971) on average in 2018, the real estate agency said in the report released earlier this week.

That is a 102.5 per cent increase from 2008, when the step-up in price from a flat was an average of £37,225.

When detached properties were also included, buyers would be looking at an average cost of £133,122, Housesimple found.

“While we’re seeing a positive trend with more first-time buyers getting onto the property ladder, second steppers-primarily those upsizing from a flat to a terraced or semi-detached house-still face a major jump to transition from a starter home to their family home,” Sam Mitchell, CEO of Housesimple, said in the report.

“The problem is particularly acute in London and the south of England, where the gap for second steppers can feel more like a chasm,” he said. “As a result, second steppers’ migration from London has always been a major driver of house price inflation in commuter towns in the home counties and increasingly as far afield as areas of the south west.”

London, home to the country’s most expensive real estate, is not surprisingly the worst place for those looking for a property upgrade. There, the average price difference between a flat and a house is an average of £343,134.

But the gap isn’t quite as wide further north where housing stock generally becomes more affordable. An upgrade is cheapest in Durham, North East England, at an average of £23,318, the report said.

Source: mansionglobal.com

If the price difference between a flat and a house continues to widen at this current rate, by 2028 buyers are expected to need to find an additional £150,000, on average, to upgrade.