Aussie home buyers spend an average $1,618 on relocation: ING
Australian home buyers spend an average of $1,618 on the cost of physically moving home, equating to $863 million a year, says a recent ING research.
The average total cost of moving was based on 1.6 million households moving in the last three years.
Relocation costs includes the cost of packaging, removalists, cleaning and reconnecting utilities.
Half (50%) of Australian home buyers do not budget for costs associated with moving, while 48% said they spend over their estimated budget, according to ING’s Cost of Moving Home report.
The research was conducted by Galaxy Research on behalf of ING in September 2017 with a sample of 602 Australians aged 18-64 years, distributed across Australia.
“When saving to move home it’s important to put aside some money for the actual move itself. Our research shows many Aussie home buyers are left empty handed by the unexpected costs of moving from one home to another,” said Tim Newman, ING’s head of product.
The costs extend to other areas as well. Nearly 3.24 million working days in total are lost every year from homebuyers taking time off work to pack, move and unpack, the report said.
More than half (59%) of Australian home buyers said they took time off work to move, with the average amount of leave taken per person being 3.5 days.
Many (53%) of the respondents were frustrated with the extra costs associated with moving home.
Top of the list was ‘the extra trips you have to make to get things’ (33%). Following this, ‘when things are broken or scratched’ (24%), ‘extra removalist fees’ (13%) and ‘insurance costs’ (8%).
Newman suggested that the cost of moving homes could be reduced by almost $1,000 if home owners chose the DIY approach.
“While the average cost of moving is $1,618, if you are willing and able to move without a removalist, the cost is significantly less: an average of $624 according to our report.”
Home buyers can also recoup money spent on the cost of moving by looking at other ways to save when it comes to the costs associated with their property.
According to research on switching by ING, Australians who switched their home loan provider within the last two years made an average annual saving of $1,073 per household per year.
“Home owners might want to look at switching their home loan to get a better deal, particularly when they move, considering the savings that can be made,” said Newman.
“When this saving ($1,073) is offset against the average cost of moving home ($1,618), home buyers can effectively recoup quite a significant proportion of the cash spent on moving fees.”
Newman’s top three tips for saving costs on moving homes are:
- DIY – Save on the cost of moving home by doing it yourself. The average cost of moving independently is $624, compared to the cost of having a removalist do everything – that’s pack, move and unpack – which comes in at an average cost of $3,655.
- Consider switching your home loan to recoup expenses – Aussies who switched their mortgage in the last two years have, on average, saved more than $1,000. If you have a home loan, it is worth considering your options.
- Have a garage sale – Moving presents the perfect opportunity to spring clean your belongings. Organise a garage sale to sell any unwanted items before you move, reducing the amount of items to be packed, as well as offering the chance to recoup some cash ahead of those unexpected moving costs.
The research was conducted by Galaxy Research on behalf of ING in September 2017 with an online permission-based panel.