Most and least affordable areas to move up the property ladder revealed – London Wallet

New data from Rightmove shows the gap between first homes and typical second-step properties has reached a record high.

In March, the average asking price for a typical first-time buyer home (0-2 bedrooms) was £226,955. Moving to a mid-market property (3-4 bedrooms) would require a 52% increase, taking the average price to £345,857.

That represents a difference of £118,902. In cash terms, the gap has only been higher twice before, in May and June 2025.

For buyers aiming for a 20% deposit, this means increasing from £45,391 on a first home to £69,171 for a second property—an additional £23,780. This would need to come from savings, mortgage overpayments or an increase in the value of their current home, alongside securing a larger mortgage.

The size of this gap varies across Great Britain, depending on location.

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.

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.

In February 2026, that had increased to £78,198.

Rightmove’s Colleen Babcock said: “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, Rightmove’s mortgage commentator, 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.”