Although the housing market may well be showing signs of picking up, a new report has found one in eight people (12%) have vowed never to move house again because they found it so stressful.

Yorkshire Bank, which produced the report as part of its continued development of its mortgage products, has conducted research that reveals the top ten sources of stress for Britons on the move.

The bank also consulted leading stress psychologist Dr David Lewis to find out why two out of three (67%) of people find moving highly stressful.

Top ten moving miseries:

Gary Lumby, head of retail at Yorkshire Bank, said: "We all know moving house is stressful. However, we wanted to get to the bottom of what actually appears to be making people ill with worry during the moving process."

"It's no surprise really that finding the right property came top, although you would expect selling your home to be a little higher in the top 10 - especially when the market is slower than it has been."

An in-depth look at the leading five moving stresses by Yorkshire Bank revealed exactly why people find moving house such a stressful experience.

• Finding a property that meets your requirements

More than one in three (38%) have struggled to find a property that suits their requirements. To try to ensure the property they wish to buy is the right one, one in four (27%) would now visit a potential home several times before making an offer.

A further one in three (36%) house buyers will avoid buying a house involved in a chain.

• Packing up all your belongings

Although Britons found packing their life contents into a cardboard box the second most stressful part about moving house, more than four out of 10 movers (43%) would choose to accept help from family and friends, rather than seek professional help.

• Waiting for your offer to be accepted

Waiting for the estate agent to call saying you've had your offer accepted is third in the overall stress list. However, even after having an offer accepted, one in five (18%) would still be worried another buyer would come in at the last minute with a higher offer.

One in three (32%) sellers found it a stressful experience keeping their home like a show house to impress prospective buyers.

A further one in eight (13%) also admit they couldn't face the effort and ignored the advice of TV property experts about 'decluttering' and 'depersonalising', when selling their house.

Even after accepting an offer, more than one in three sellers (36%) would be paranoid about the buyer pulling out.

• Saving for a deposit

More than one in four (28%) house buyers admitted saving for a deposit is extremely difficult when paying off other loan repayments and outgoings.

Method behind the madness?

According to leading stress psychologist Dr David Lewis, who Yorkshire Bank consulted to explain just why moving house is so stressful, there are three contributing factors to moving misery.

Dr David Lewis said: "Firstly, a lot of what happens when moving house is outside of our control, and a lack of control is almost always associated with raised stress levels."

"Secondly, it is often physically exhausting, which means even the fittest of us tires quickly, and fatigue makes it far harder to stay on top of stress."

"Finally there is the emotional upheaval of leaving familiar and comfortable surroundings to start a new life somewhere unfamiliar and, at least initially, a lot less comfortable."

The bank's research also found moving house with children is a far more stressful experience with about one in 20 (6%) movers experiencing tantrums from their children, who wanted to voice their disapproval at moving away from friends.

Dr David Lewis agrees: "While moving is stressful for adults, it's often far worse for young children whose whole familiar world is being turned upside down. To ease this, parents should encourage them to help with the packing and allow them to take a few personal belongings, such as a much-loved doll or favourite toy, with them on the day."

Moving day may well be stressful. However, the research found one in four (23%) people start worrying about paying the mortgage straight away. One in two (50%) would also like to pay off their mortgage as soon as possible, just to have one less thing to worry about.

Gary Lumby said: "As our research shows, many people want to pay off their mortgage as soon as possible so that they have more disposable income to live life to the full. That's why more and more people are applying for flexible mortgages."

A typical home owner with a 25-year standard repayment mortgage of £183,486, an average of £1,000 in their current account and £10,000 in their savings account could save themselves £28,526 in interest payments and knock two years and one month off their repayment term - just by switching to Yorkshire Bank's offset mortgage account, says Gary Lumby.

According to Gary Lumby, home movers should choose their moving day wisely to try reduce the stress levels.

Gary said: "Many people move house on a Friday. However, if there are any hold-ups of money being transferred in the chain, the earliest this can be resolved is the following Monday.

"Therefore, homeowners could face the prospect of being left homeless for the weekend. The earlier in the week you move, the more peace of mind you will have that everything will go through before the weekend." To give customers peace of mind when moving home, Yorkshire Bank is offering 'SmoothMove' to customers who take out a Legal & General mortgage protection product.

Gary Lumby added: "There is nothing worse than something going wrong on moving day when you're already worked up in the first place."

"Should the removal van not turn up, SmoothMove cover will arrange a new one. And if you're left homeless because the seller can't move on time, then it will reimburse payment for up to three nights' hotel accommodation."

"It will even reimburse payment for your pets' kennelling if you are unable to move in beyond completion date."