The price gap between a typical first-time buyer home and a middle-market second-stepper home is the highest it’s ever been, according to new Rightmove analysis.
In March, the average asking price for a 0-2 bedroom home, a typical first-time buyer property, was £226,955. The trade up to a middle-market, typical 3-4 bedroom second-stepper home would be a 52% jump to £345,857, the widest this gap has ever been.
In cash terms, this is a £118,902 step up from a typical first home to a second property – this gap has only been larger in cash terms on two occasions, in May and June 2025.
If aiming to have a 20% deposit, this jump up would mean that a first-time buyer needs to go from having a £45,391 deposit, to having a £69,171 deposit when looking to trade up – meaning they must have built an additional £23,780 in equity, through overpaying on their mortgage, saving up further, or the value of their current property increasing.
This is in addition to being approved to borrow a larger amount from a mortgage lender.
South East buyers hardest hit by cost of trading up
Buyers in the South East are hardest hit on average when trying to trade up for some extra space. The average asking price for a first-time buyer type of home in the South East is currently £286,748. A second-stepper home is £460,781 – an increase of 61%.
London is second in the list, with a gap of 60% between a £491,661 first-time buyer home and a £788,528 second-stepper home.
By contrast, trading up from a starter home is most achievable in Yorkshire & The Humber. The price of a second-stepper home in Yorkshire is £251,885, a 38% increase on the price of a first-time buyer home which is £182,029.
Wales is the second most affordable area to trade up in Great Britain, with a 40% gap between a typical first and second home.
Flats vs houses
The lagging price growth of flats, which make up a much larger proportion of typical starter homes, is a big contributor to the growing cost of trading up from a smaller to a larger home.
The price gap between an average flat, and an average house of any size is currently 26%. It’s only been larger once - at 27% in September 2025. The current average asking price of a flat is £301,338, versus £379,526 on average for a house.
Over the last ten years, the average price of a flat has only increased by 8%, compared with a 34% increase for houses.
The Covid pandemic and subsequent race for space caused a large acceleration in price gap between flats and houses. In February 2020, prior to the first lockdown, the price gap in cash terms between an average flat and an average house was £24,010. By February 2026, that had increased to £78,198.
Colleen Babcock, Rightmove’s property expert, commented: “The race for space that began during the pandemic caused a major shift between houses and flats, and it’s a shift we’re still feeling today. Flats, which make up a much larger share of first-time buyer homes and markets like London, have seen slower price growth, while houses have pulled further ahead. Concerns around leaseholds and ground rents are also likely weighing on flat prices.”
Matt Smith, mortgage expert at Rightmove, added: “Inevitably trading up means borrowing more. Home movers usually take advantage of having built equity since the purchase of their first home to fund a larger deposit, meaning they have access to cheaper rates. If equity is reduced, this means home movers are likely to need to look at alternative strategies, either through reducing their mortgage balance by overpaying, or boosting their deposit through savings.
“They can look at taking more incremental steps up the housing ladder, or scout out alternative, cheaper locations.
“If buyers are facing the prospect of moving up the ladder at higher loan-to-values, lenders do have options to support this - powered up by recent changes to affordability rules by the regulators.”
