Location preferences are changing, with many people no longer reliant on easy access into work
The shift in working habits caused by the coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the property market, having led to significant new trends.
A number of agents have reported a sharp rise in people looking for properties with outside space as well as more room to work from home.
Location preferences are also changing, with many people no longer reliant on easy access into work, and that largely explains why Rightmove’s review of the year shows that coastal and rural areas saw the biggest jump in buyer searches in 2020.
The Somerset town of Bruton saw the biggest increase in buyers searching for places to move to, up 72% year-on-year, according to new data out today from Rightmove.
The second highest annual increase in terms of place to live this year is Pitlochry in Scotland, where buyer searches have risen by 50% compared to 2019.
The top five places with the biggest annual increases in buyer searches are completed by Aylesford in Kent, Salcombe in Devon and Lightwater in Surrey.
The rest of the top 10 is also dominated by rural and coastal areas, which mirrors a wider national trend of home-movers looking to relocate to more remote destinations in 2020.
In terms of the nation’s rental hotspots, the top three places in Britain that have seen the biggest annual increases in rental searches are Cambridge, Stockport, Rye, up 34%, 31%, and 27% respectfully.
Rightmove’s review of the year found that seven of the top 10 areas that have seen the biggest rises in the number of sales being agreed over the past 12 months have populations under 10,000 – further highlighting the popularity of rural locations.
The top five local markets with the biggest year-on-year increases in sales agreed are: Welwyn, Hertfordshire (+75%), Woodbridge, Suffolk (+69%), Llanelli, Wales (+65%), Stockbridge, Hampshire (+60%), and Malmesbury, Wiltshire (+54%).
For prices, it is suburban areas in the North West near Liverpool and Manchester that saw the biggest growth this year.
