Movers ponder property ladder exit

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Nearly one in five movers is considering cashing in on the value of their home before prices fall by getting off the property ladder, new figures have shown.

Around 18% of people planning to move said they were thinking of renting a home in the hope that they could sell their property at the top of the market before buying another after prices have fallen, change of address website iammoving.com found.

The impact of stretched affordability and mortgage brokers tightening their lending criteria has seen most house price indexes showing slight falls in the value of homes in the past few months.

But while most commentators expect house prices to end the year at around the same level they started, some predict falls of up to 10% in the next two years.

A further 14% of people planning to move are considering renting to free up some money because they have cashflow problems, the research also found.

Simon Preston, chairman of iammoving.com, said the group had seen a switch among people going from owning a home to renting one.

He said: "We could see that people were still moving but there was a shift towards renting. Our findings show that much of this is down to the problems in the housing market and the fact that people are struggling financially.

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