How long did you stay in your first house?

[Shurl]

As a ftb I'm just wondering what other people's experiences are/were? And what prompted the move? There is so much talk about a housing ladder that it almost seems expected that people move out of their first house quite quickly

For me (I'm not a journalist!)
I bought my property just after I met my dp, we both own places, so will probably pick one to move into together as a trial at some point and then sell both to fund a family home. I expect to be in my house under 5 years, but still think it was better to buy than stay renting, as my monthly costs are so much lower

2.5 years

12 years

First house, I was 22 and in it for 13 years on my own, but still own it now. Bought house 2 with DH by remortgaging house 1, moved again after 3 years and moving again after just less than 4 years.
There was a huge amount of equity in house 1 that enabled the purchase of house 2 without selling and we have made £150k combined on houses 2 and 3 which is enabling house 4.
We won’t likely move again until we are very old though (or win the lottery).

5 years so far, parents been in their first house 30 years

6 years and counting. Probably will be here for 3 more years or so.

We were in our first house for roughly 6 years. I loved the area and still miss it, but the house itself was a damp, mouldy liability.

We've been in our current house (in the city suburbs) for about 13 years. I'd be happy to move now, to somewhere more rural, but I think that will have to wait a few more years till DS has finished school and the housing market is less bonkers.

First House I bought in my early 20s and was there 6 years. I moved city so otherwise would have stayed longer. Been in current house 3 years and will probably stay another 5 years. I would like my next move to be a nicer house I'd like to spend decades in so saving up and working on career in the meantime.

First house was a flat, 5 years then moved to a larger house to have babies, then sold after 6 years to a bigger house closer to school. Once the kids are out of school we'll move to the sticks and get chickens

We bought our first house and it was our forever house, however when Covid hit we both had to work from home and didn't have the space (one was in a bedroom the other the kitchen) so we moved to our now forever home
We were in our first house for 10 years

42 years and counting !

We didn’t buy our first house until we were early 30’s and had children as we lived abroad until then. Therefore our first house is a large 4 bed rather than a ‘starter home’.
We’ve been in it for 4.5 years and will probably move in the next 2-3 years.

10 years, from 30-40. Had two kids and managed to upgrade to a much bigger place at the end of last year that we hope will be our family home up until we need to downsize when the kids move out.

5 years, it was a flat. I bought on my own five years was long enough to make a decent profit and for DH and I to be together, we moved to our house before getting married and having ds. The flat was only one bed

2 years
4 years
10 years
4 years
10 years a year in rental - changé of country
10 years and
4 years in rental awaiting end of divorce.

11 years. Never expected it to be so long to be honest but we loved the house and managed to make it work for us until we had our second child (at which point it was too small and we moved for an extra bedroom and bigger garden).

Almost 6 years.
We bought a house we could 'grow with', so we wouldn't immediately outgrow it once we had kids and dogs.

We'll probably be here a few more years and then decide what we're doing based on if we decide to have another kid or look at different career paths (or both)!

I don't see this as our forever house but it's a good house and met our needs for now.

We bought in 2019 for the first time and are likely to stay here for 10 years.

We deliberately bought bigger than we needed at the time so we didn’t have to go through moving again in the too near future.

12 years in my first house. I've been in my current house for about a year and a half now but it's going on the market soon due to a divorce. I wish I had stayed in my old house it would have been a perfect size for me and my ds and I could have bought my ex out. I'm looking for a new house in the same area.

Four years so far... still decorating!

4 years. Moved to be nearer better schools once DD was approaching school age.

18 months- partner got a new job out of London so we moved

Interesting that there is such a range! I'd have loved to buy a bigger longer term house as my first, those who have managed that are very lucky.

21 months. Been in our second house nearly five years.

12 years..

We moved summer last year as the house we were in needed a new kitchen and new bathroom and I didn't have the headspace with 2 kids, a dog, working nights aand DH working from home to have 2 big bits of work done. We also ideally needed a 4th bedroom. So we decided to move to a new build. Best decision we made.

I’m still in it. I intend to leave feet first in a box.