People looking to move up the property ladder face tougher conditions than first time buyers according to recent research by Lloyds-TSB.

House price falls have eroded the equity available to them when they look to trade up and with home affordability standing at 4.7 times average earnings for second steppers affordability is the worst for second steppers for 25 years.

The report estimates that the average first time seller has equity of only around 5.4%  of the value of the average value of a typical second stepper semi. With many lenders requiring that Borrowers inject at least 10% of the purchase price -more if you want to get access to more competitive interest rates - second steppers are finding it increasingly hard to move so limiting the number of homes available to first time buyers.