Second steppers finding it harder than ever to move up the ladder

Traditionally, getting onto the UK property ladder has been the hardest thing for prospective homeowners to do. It’s generally accepted that once people have bought their first home, climbing the ladder and moving to larger and better properties is a far easier prospect.

However, for a growing number of people in the UK, this is not the case, and a new study has discovered that for many, it’s actually harder to move into a second home than it was when they were a first-time buyer.

Research from Lloyds Bank has discovered that as many as a quarter of people in the UK say they found it harder to buy their second home than it was to get onto the ladder in the first place. This is a number that has increased by some 18 per cent in the last few years.

Of those who do own their own first home at present, some 35 per cent said they will have to change their life plans in some way to be able to move up the ladder, with many planning to delay their intentions to start a family so they can first buy a bigger house.

The data also shows that 56 per cent believe it is taking them longer to buy a second home than they expected it would because of low savings rates. On top of this 13 per cent said that in order to get themselves a new home, they have had to move to a new job that gives them more income.

Some 52 per cent of people who live in their first home at present even said they would have liked to have moved up the property ladder in the last 12 months, but have been unable to do so because of the increase in Stamp Duty and other issues that have made buying a more expensive prospect.

“Moving up the property ladder has become more challenging for second steppers in recent years. The rise in house prices and moving costs, along with how difficult it is to find the right property means that they’ve had to wait longer than anticipated or even put off their move entirely until the right property comes along,” said Andrew Mason, mortgage product director at Lloyds Bank.