The Pepper Money Specialist Lending Study found that of more than 6,000 respondents, a further 28 per cent had considered moving to a new area to reduce their housing costs.
According to the research, 68 per cent of people have seen their disposable income decrease in the last year because of higher living costs while 31 per cent said the reduction had been “significant”.
The cost of food bills has had the largest impact on disposable income, according to 92 per cent of respondents, followed by 86 per cent of respondents saying energy bills and 38 per cent citing travel expenses.
To try and save money, 51 per cent of respondents said they were buying less or cheaper food and 38 per cent went on fewer or no holidays and trips. Half said they were cutting down on leisure activities while 31 per cent cancelled their subscriptions.
Some 46 per cent decided to put less money away in savings to deal with rising costs.
Paul Adams, sales director at Pepper Money, said: “Faced with such a significant ongoing squeeze on their finances, millions of households are looking for ways they can cut costs. Our study found the desire to do this is so significant for such a large proportion of people that 28 per cent of all respondents say they have considered moving out of their area to somewhere cheaper, whilst 19 per cent have thought about downsizing to reduce their housing costs.
“Whether customers are looking to move, downsize, or reduce their borrowing costs, brokers have a huge opportunity to help their customers to best manage the current economic environment and continue working towards the goals they want to achieve in their lives.”
