Home mover total costs calculator
Selling and buying costs combined — what a move takes out of your equity.
Typical 2025/26 fees; agent fees are often quoted excluding VAT, and duty assumes you complete your sale (no additional-property surcharge). An illustration, not advice — get itemised quotes.
Moving home means paying two sets of costs at once, and the total surprises people who last moved a decade ago. On the sale: estate agency at typically 1–1.5% plus VAT for a high-street agent (so £3,600–£5,400 on a £300,000 sale, with fixed-fee online options cheaper), an EPC if yours has expired (£60–£120), and your solicitor’s sale work (£800–£1,500). On the purchase: stamp duty at home-mover rates, conveyancing and searches, survey, and mortgage fees. Plus one removal, sized to a whole house.
A worked example: sell at £300,000 and buy at £400,000. Agency at 1.2% + VAT is about £4,300; combined legal work on sale and purchase perhaps £2,500–£3,500 with searches; stamp duty on the new home £7,500 (England, 2025/26 main rates); survey £700; removals £1,200. Total: roughly £16,000–£17,500 — money that comes out of your sale equity before it can become deposit. This is why the deposit for the next home is “equity minus costs”, not “sale price minus mortgage”.
Two planning notes. If you complete on the new home before your old one has sold, the 5-point additional-property surcharge applies on the whole purchase — £20,000 extra on £400,000 — reclaimable if you sell within three years, but painful to fund in the meantime. And porting (taking your existing mortgage deal to the new house) can dodge early repayment charges mid-fix; ask before assuming you must pay to exit. The gap between a cheap move and an expensive one is mostly sequencing.
Common questions
What does it cost to move house in total?
For a typical sell-at-£300k, buy-at-£400k move in England: roughly £16,000–£17,500 — about £4,300 agency, £2,500–£3,500 legal on both transactions, £7,500 stamp duty, £700 survey and £1,200 removals. The stamp duty line is the most price-sensitive: buying at £300,000 instead cuts it to £5,000.
How much do estate agents charge to sell a house?
High-street agents typically 1–1.5% plus VAT (1.2–1.8% all-in), sole agency; multi-agency costs more. Fixed-fee online agents charge £300–£1,500, often paid up front whether or not you sell. Fees are negotiable, especially on higher-value homes — and the cheapest agent is not always the one that nets you the most.
Do I pay stamp duty when I sell?
No — stamp duty is a buyer’s tax, so you pay it only on the home you are purchasing. The seller’s equivalent pain is the estate agent’s fee. If you buy your next home before completing the sale of the old one, though, you pay the additional-property surcharge up front and reclaim it after selling (within three years).
Can I take my existing mortgage to the new house?
Often yes — most deals are portable, meaning the rate moves with you and you avoid early repayment charges, with any extra borrowing priced separately at current rates. Porting still involves a full application on the new property, so it is not automatic. If you are mid-way through a cheap fix, it is usually the first option to explore.
Numbers are half the story. Check the home itself.
One search pulls the official record on any address in England & Wales — value, flood risk, schools, noise and more, scored 0–100.