A fifth of owners looking to move within six months

A fifth (20 per cent) of homeowners are considering moving in the next six months and the biggest driver for that are falling mortgage rates, new research from Nottingham Building Society shows.

Lower rates, which are top reason to move for 25 per cent of homeowners, enable them to have more equity and therefore afford more expensive properties.

However, the proportion of people looking to move upmarket and buy a higher-value home (15 per cent) is lower than the share of people looking to buy a less expensive property and get some money to use for other purposes (17 per cent).

More than a tenth (11 per cent) of homeowners said they need to move to a cheaper home because of financial woes.

The research shows that half (50 per cent) of homemovers would choose to take out fixed-rate mortgages, which is an indication that many people perhaps expect rates to go up soon.

This is what many brokers are also warning about. Around a quarter (23 per cent) of brokers surveyed by Nottingham believe rates will rise, while over half (56 per cent) expect them to remain unchanged. Only 16 per cent of brokers questioned expect further reductions.

Ian Gibbons, senior mortgage broking manager at Nottingham Mortgage Services, said:

“This is traditional home buying season and our research shows that many homeowners are thinking about it.

“The key reason is that mortgage rates have fallen and are extremely competitive at the moment which makes finding a good deal possible if you search the whole market. In the first three months of this year, we saw a 49 per cent increase in mortgage enquiries compared to the fourth quarter of last year.”

On a regional basis, the research reveals that 27 per cent of people in the East of England are considering moving in the next six months, the highest of any region.