Homeowners hope to upsize at bargain price

More than two million homeowners are planning to move home to take advantage of the falling property market, according to new research from Abbey Mortgages.

Of them, 1.2 million are planning to trade up to a bigger property over the next 12 months in the hope that they will snap up a bargain. A further 827,000 are selling up to rent, waiting for the market to reach a low before they buy again. An additional 1.1 million people are planning to downsize their home in an effort to combat the credit squeeze and free up capital.

Abbey Mortgages' research reveals that those who want to buy a new home are willing to wait an average of 7.5 months before putting an offer in. And there's still plenty of uncertainty and indecision amongst homeowners, as 12 per cent admit they are waiting to see what happens to property prices before they decide on their next step.

The majority of homeowners (67 per cent), however, have no plans to move at all over the next 12 months. Of those staying put, 39 per cent are planning some form of home improvement, to try to add value to their home and/or to increase their living space.
Phil Cliff, Director of Abbey Mortgages, commented: "For some people a falling house price environment is not necessarily bad news. While the majority of homeowners are planning to stay put and wait for the current volatility to end, two million think that house price falls are a good reason to move."

"This could be because house price falls bring a larger property within their grasp or because they think they can cash in if they sell up now and wait for the market to hit its bottom. However, it is always worth getting advice before making this sort of move as for most people, their house is their largest asset."

"For customers who are looking to move, Abbey offers a competitive range of tracker and fixed rate mortgages. We also offer flexible rate mortgages with no early repayment charge for those people who want a degree of flexibility over their mortgage to help them ride out the current market volatility."