Cost of stamp duty deters one in 12 homemovers

11%, or around 1.2 million homeowners, have given up plans to move house in the past three years due to financial issues including mortgages.

The cost of stamp duty stopped around one in 12 homeowners (8%) while 3% - or 327,000 - were turned down for mortgages.

Those aged between 18 and 44 were most likely to be put off by the cost of stamp duty, with around 14% citing this.

The research follows the announcement from the CML that the “lull in moving activity appears stubbornly persistent” across the UK market and that it plans to launch a study into “why the number of transactions seems in secular decline”.

The Nottingham’s research shows mortgage and stamp duty issues are a major factor – but the biggest block on home moving was a lack of suitable houses to move to. Around 25% of homeowners questioned said they had looked but could not find a suitable house.

However around 30% of homeowners said they cannot currently afford to move home so are concentrating on improving their house and around one in five say they cannot find a better house to move to.

Ian Gibbons, Senior Mortgage Broking Manager at Nottingham Mortgage Services, said: “The mortgage market is generally performing well with growth in remortgaging and for loans to first-time buyers with strong competition from lenders.

“There are a wide range of deals and advice available for all types of borrowers but the home moving market is still not expanding which points to wider issues than simply mortgages or stamp duty as the blocks in the market.

“Home movers clearly are also struggling to find suitable homes to move to which turns the spotlight on improving their existing homes rather than moving. The key to remortgaging successfully is to search the market for the most appropriate deal and to get advice on options particularly for older borrowers who may need to extend their loan into retirement.”