The cost of trading up from a first-time buyer property to a second home has risen almost threefold in the last decade, a study said today.
The leap is so big that one in six people trying to take their second step on the property ladder may need to turn to their parents to borrow cash, asking for nearly £13,000 on average, Lloyds TSB found.
The price difference between a typical first-time buyer flat and the semi-detached home desired by many "second steppers" has risen from £14,000 10 years ago to almost £41,000.
Second home buyers face increasing costs
While most would-be "second steppers" surveyed said they would use savings or equity in their current home to fund their next move, 16% said they would consider asking their parents for financial help and would typically need £12,746.
Researchers said nearly half of first-time buyers live in flats, which average £148,502 in value. The typical price for a semi-detached house, the type of property often favoured by second steppers, stands at £189,312, meaning they face a 27% premium to trade up.
Second steppers in the South East face the biggest percentage premium at 52%, equating to almost £85,000 to make the jump to their second home.
Londoners need to find £97,916 to fund the same gap, although the premium for second steppers in the English capital is around average at 27%.
The cost of trading up in Wales is just over £6,000, or 5%, by comparison, the study found.
Stephen Noakes, Lloyds TSB mortgage director, said: "Second steppers face a number of tough challenges and in many ways have been the hardest hit by the subdued housing market, so it is unsurprising that they are struggling to fund the gap needed to trade up to their preferred second home.
"Parents have long been helping to fund their children's first home but many are now having to provide further support as they move up the ladder."
Research into second steppers released by Lloyds TSB in February found that nearly two-thirds of people trying to climb the property ladder from their first home were "stuck" due to falling house prices leaving them in negative equity as well as a lack of first-time buyers, many of whom are struggling to raise a deposit or meet the required borrowing criteria to take out a mortgage.
Typical costs for a home mover, including stamp duty, mortgage arrangement fees, estate agency fees, surveyors' fees, conveyancing and removal costs, soared to about £8,922 in 2011, a 69% rise over the decade, the previous study found.
The latest study used Land Registry figures as well as 400 interviews with people taking their second step on the property ladder.
Here is the typical premium faced by second steppers to move from a flat to a semi-detached home by region, with the cost of a flat followed by the price of a semi-detached property and the premium in percentage and monetary terms:
:: North, £107,172, £133,595, 25%, £26,423
:: Yorkshire and the Humber, £119,636, £137,452, 15%, £17,815
:: North West, £113,639, £150,531, 32%, £36,892
:: East Midlands, £99,472, £130,236, 31%, £30,765
:: West Midlands, £115,022, £147,071, 28%, £32,049
:: East Anglia, £132,339, £162,993, 23%, £30,653
:: Wales, £126,927, £133,282, 5%, £6,356
:: South West, £152,315, £197,143, 29% £44,828
:: South East, £161,779, £246,186, 52%, £84,407
:: Greater London, £356,718, £454,634, 27%, £97,916
:: England and Wales, £148,502, £189,312, 27%, £40,810
Housing Minister Grant Shapps said: "For years, increasing numbers of people have outgrown their homes but been unable to move, and first-time buyers have been unable to buy.
"They know who they are - hard-working people who bought their home when they were single, maybe met someone, fell in love and now have a couple of kids.
"They expected to trade up - because that's what their parents were able to do. But now they're boxed-in, home outgrown. Stuck in a flat, when really what they want is a family home.
"The NewBuy Guarantee will give our second-time buyers a second chance, as this is the first scheme of its kind not confined to first-time buyers, but available to anyone looking to buy a newly-built home."