Homeowners have ditched plans to move this year amid concerns about the state of the housing market and the economy in general.

Research by online directory RatedPeople.com revealed that the current climate has put people off moving.

It seems that instead, many will be doing up their current homes in a bid to add value for when the market recovers.

"About two weeks ago, we ran a survey of about 2,000 homeowners across the UK," said Andrew Skipwith, co-founder of RatedPeople.com.

"What we found was that, of the four and a half million who were thinking of moving in 2008, 61 per cent - that's over half of them - have decided to stay put just for the time being, given the instability in the economy and the housing market."

Figures out this week from insurer Allianz warned home improvement enthusiasts that they were likely to run up a combined repair bill of £25 million over the weekend.

Amateurs attempting complex jobs can damage their homes and could also invalidate their home insurance policies.

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