Signs it's time to move house

Like the dreaded seven-year itch, if you’ve been living in your present home for a while it’s not unusual to suddenly feel the urge to refinance your home loan and move. And don’t worry – you’re not alone.

A CommBank home finance index survey in May found that next-time home buyers are saving more than first home buyers for the first time in years – and they plan to start investing.

“The strong increase in next time buyers savings since March 2013 is evidence this group will continue to play a major role in the residential property market,” said Clive van Horen, CommBank General Manager of Home Loans.

Indeed, 42 percent of these buyers professed that they wanted to change or upgrade their current home. If this information is starting to whet your appetite for home loans, perhaps you should ask yourself if it’s time to move house. 

The commute is no longer worth it

Perhaps when you first bought your home, you were in a less financially secure position and were willing to make a few sacrifices in order to achieve the dream of owning your first home. One of these sacrifices may well have been the morning commute – for the right price, you didn’t mind sitting in traffic for an hour or more every morning to get to work. 

However, whether it’s because you snapped out of the excitement or because over time the congestion got worse, the travel time is no longer acceptable. There’s no need to sacrifice your time and happiness needlessly – this is a strong sign that better opportunities await elsewhere. 

There’s more of you

When you bought your first home, there’s a chance you were either single or a part of a young couple and just enjoying the days but not giving the future much thought. Years later, it’s more than just you and your partner – you’ve got a whole family to take care of, including pets, and that two-bedroom bungalow isn’t cutting it anymore. Everyone needs a little space and privacy. It may be time to bring out the home loan calculator and see if you can afford a bigger, roomier house that was built with your new family in mind. 

There’s less of you

On the other hand, maybe you’ve got the opposite problem. Far from a young family, you’re nearly on the way to enjoying your retirement now. The kids have long since moved out and you’re interested in a different kind of lifestyle. The house is neither the right size nor the right location for you and your partner. Perhaps you want to move somewhere quieter in a regional area or downsize to an apartment, while making a pretty penny on your existing home, which has likely grown in value. 

If any of these sound like you, perhaps it’s about high-time to start thinking about moving on!

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