More people in Shropshire are choosing to stay put rather than move home compared to anywhere else in the country because of fears about the uncertain housing market, according to a new survey.

According to the research, residents in Shropshire were the most resolute, with 91 per cent reporting they intend to stay and improve their homes over the next two years, followed by inhabitants of Essex (87 per cent) and Buckinghamshire (81 per cent).

RatedPeople.com, a UK online trade recommendation service, questioned more than 2,000 homeowners to find out how recent market changes have impacted on their plans.

And people in the county came top of the list of those who would prefer to improve their own homes rather than gamble on moving to a new property.

According to the survey, other counties where residents made it into the top 10 of areas “improving not moving” in the next two years were Bedfordshire (75 per cent), Hertfordshire (74 per cent) and Kent (72 per cent).Also included were Devon (71 per cent), Cornwall (67 per cent), Staffordshire (66 per cent) and Derbyshire (65 per cent).

RatedPeople.com said Government and industry figures showed more than 2.7 million homeowners planning to move in 2008 have performed a U-turn in their plans as a result of uncertainty about the current state of the UK housing market.

Andrew Skipwith, co-founder of Rated People.com, said: “Recent market conditions have sent shockwaves to thousands of homeowners across the UK, leading them to re-evaluate and improve on what they’ve got, rather than risk losing money in the current market.”

“By getting qualified tradespeople in to make improvements to the home now, homeowners can both safeguard and increase their home’s value and reap the rewards financially once the housing market stabilises.

“It’s also interesting to see that new trends are emerging – the fact that homeowners are moving ‘upwards not onwards’ speaks volumes about how inventive they’re becoming in order to get the maximum potential out of arguably their biggest ever purchase.”

By Russell Roberts