The amount needed to move from a two-bedroom flat to a three-bedroom house – the ‘trade up gap’ has widened considerably in the past year, shows data from Rightmove.

The average cost of making such a move in Great Britain is now £67,761 outside of London, with the average two-bedroom flat costing £171,751 and the average three-bedroom home £239,512.

This trade up gap has widened by £4,000 since this time last year, Rightmove says.

Rightmove details that the smallest such gap is in Yorkshire and the Humber, where the jump between a £139,177 two-bedroom flat on average to a £178,436 three-bedroom house on average is £39,259.

The biggest jump is in the South East. Here, a two-bedroom flat will set buyers back by £250,926 on average, with a £121,295 jump required to secure a three-bedroom house – £372,221.

In the last five years, Rightmove adds, the average asking price for two-bedroom flats on a national basis has increased by 15 per cent and for three-bedroom houses by 20 per cent.

Buyers who want to move from a three-bedroom house to a four-bedroom house, meanwhile, have to content with an average trade up gap of £183,093 outside of London.

Rightmove director of property data Tim Bannister says: “People who bought a smaller home five years ago and are now hoping to trade up will find it’s harder to afford the next rung of the ladder because of the different pace of the sectors.

“Those who really need the space and are struggling to trade up could widen their search area to find alternative places where they can get more for their money, or they may need to compromise on the type of home and opt for a terraced rather than detached.

“The cash jump is even bigger from three to four beds… but traditionally homeowners stay in their second home longer and so more people may have built up enough equity to make the jump to their ‘forever home’.”