Moving to a bigger home is something Lancaster people with growing young families aspire to. Many people in 2 bed homes move to a 3 bed home and some even make the jump to a 4 bed home. Bigger homes, especially 3 bed Lancaster homes are much in demand and it can be a costly move.
If you live in Lancaster in a 2 bed property and wish to move to a 4 bed house locally, you would need to spend an additional £155,929 (or £615.92 pm in mortgage payments (based on the UK Bank average standard variable rate). However, going straight to a 4 bed from a two-bed home is quite rare as most people jump from a 2 to 3 bed home, then later in life, from a 3 to 4-bedroom home.
A client asked me recently about the cost difference in moving to a larger home. Here’s what we worked out. To start with, let us see what the average property price is for a Lancaster property by the number of bedrooms it has.
I then decided to calculate what it would cost to make the jump to a larger house both in actual money and in mortgage payments (using the current standard variable rate of UK Banks of 4.74% – so the mortgage cost could be higher or lower depending on the mortgage taken).
| Lancaster | ||
| Price Difference to make the move | Cost per month to move up market (Mortgage) | |
| 1 bed to 2 bed | £32,809 | £129.59 |
| 2 bed to 3 bed | £43,240 | £170.80 |
| 2 bed to 4 bed | £155,929 | £615.92 |
| 3 bed to 4 bed | £112,689 | £445.12 |
| 4 bed to 5 bed | £105,474 | £416.62 |
There are some interesting jumps in costs when moving upmarket as a Lancaster buyer. The cost of moving from one to two beds, and two to three beds is relatively reasonable, whilst the jump from three to four beds in Lancaster is quite high ( hence why some 4 bed properties are taking slightly longer to sell nowadays).
I then looked at the stock of properties in Lancaster, this also makes interesting reading …
| Housing Stock in Lancaster by Bedrooms | ||||
| 1 bed | 2 bed | 3 bed | 4 bed | 5 bed |
| 7.25% | 37.27% | 34.58% | 17.18% | 3.73% |
The most active purchasers are 20 – 30 something home-owning parents with growing families. Many look to more modern developments for the perfect balance of access to decent primary schools, commutability and lifestyle.
For landlords looking to buy within Lancaster, they face stiff competition from these 20/30 something families, as the three bedroom Lancaster homes are massively in demand, often attracting spirited offers and selling within weeks of listing.
This mix of homebuyers and landlords is a pressure point in the Lancaster property market. If you are a landlord, call me and I will show you areas with decent returns where you aren’t in so much competition with young Lancaster family homebuyers.
If you’d like to talk about the Lancaster Housing Market or would like any advice on where to buy your next property, please get in touch.
Call me in my Lancaster Office on 01524 843322 or email me at john@jdg.co.uk