There is an ever widening gap for those making the move to the second step on the housing ladder as a result of growing house prices, a report by Lloyds Bank has found.

However, despite this gap, many home owners report increased confidence in the housing market and more confidence in their ability to make the jump to the next step.

Lloyds explains that Second Steppers are the link between first time buyers and the rest of the housing ladder. They are living in the homes that the first time buyers need to buy to keep the market moving. Without movement from Second Steppers, movement on the ladder comes to a standstill on the second rung.

Despite increasing house prices boosting equity levels for Second Steppers, the findings show people living in their first home have to find an extra £58,400 to plug the gap between the sale price of their current property and the cost of the house they would ideally move to. This figure is over double the amount of the average first time buyer deposit of £25,848, meaning it is far more expensive to move up the ladder than to get on it in the first place.

However, despite the growing financial gap between first and second properties, confidence in the market is improving. Just a quarter of Second Steppers see economic uncertainty as a key challenge, a fall of 10% over the previous year. Unsurprisingly,  the number seeing negative equity as a challenge also reduced by 11% to just 14% of respondents.

In most regions, Second Steppers are looking to pay more than the national average price for their next property. Across the country, Second Steppers expect to pay £282,000 for a property, which is a £10,000 premium over and above the national average house price of £272,000.

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