£58,000 needed by “second steppers” says report

Second steppers must find an extra £58,000 to fund the move to their second home, the fourth annual Second Steppers Report from Lloyds Bank has revealed.

Due to rising property prices this gap is £15,000 larger than in 2013 and £18,000 higher than 2012, while the total is nearly double the average cost of a first-time buyer deposit (£26,000).

Almost half (46%) of potential second steppers think costs and fees are the greatest barriers to moving up the housing ladder, yet four in 10 (40%) think it will be easier to sell this year, almost double proportion in 2013.

In the past 12 months house prices have risen by 9.6% according to Halifax, giving people more equity in their properties when they come to sell, while three quarters (74%) of second steppers predict house prices to inflate further in the coming year.

Marc Page, mortgages director at Lloyds Bank, said: "The jump to the next step is growing quickly for second steppers, with the gap to the second home now being almost £60,000 nationally.

"However, as house prices are rising and barriers to the next step are reducing, confidence about

There are now a record 30.76 million people in work, while 2 million are in public sector jobs.

Wages excluding bonuses were up 0.9% on the year, while private sector wages rose by 1.2%.

The financial services sector saw bonuses fall by 5%.

Job vacancies rose by up 130,000 over the past year, bringing the number of vacancies in the UK economy to 674,000.