A terminal for handover using channel characteristics and a control method thereof are provided. Reception level information is received from a neighboring base station. A state of the neighboring base station having transmitted the reception level information is measured. A corresponding neighboring base station to which the handover is possible is selected using a corrected reception level value by computing the corrected reception level value using a value of the reception level information received from the neighboring base station and a channel characteristic value of the neighboring base station. A better neighboring base station for the handover can be selected by applying a reception level based on detected channel characteristics (quality) of a corresponding neighboring base station even when an actually measured reception level of the neighboring base station is high.