Estate agents across the UK opened in May. Pent-up demand coupled with people’s desire to leave the city behind for more open space, has caused a boom of activity in rural property markets.
As the proximity to commercial office spaces becomes minor due to increased remote working, perhaps the advantages of an escape to the country are becoming more obvious. Lockdown has thrown into the spotlight the difficulties of city living; smaller, more expensive properties and less access to open spaces (21 per cent of Londoners have no garden). The density of people also makes social distancing harder.
Properties within commuter belts from England’s biggest cities have shown the biggest demand. Kent, a county in which the High Speed 1 Rail Network allows for residents to be in the capital in under an hour, has demonstrated this trend in recent weeks.
“Lockdown has made me reassess what I want from life”
According to the exclusive data from the UK’s largest online real estate portal, RightMove, a number of locations in Kent have seen a significant percentage increase in buyer searches, compared to July 2019. Swanley saw the largest increase of 102.8% and Canterbury at 68.8%. The national average increase is +52%.
Grace Paul lived in East London for six years, but when the lease on her flat-share ended, she moved to Kent to live with her parents during lockdown. She doesn’t see herself returning to the capital post-pandemic. “Lockdown has made me reassess what I want from life” she says, “London is an amazing city but it’s expensive… I love the outside space, the beautiful countryside and the lower property costs in Kent. The joy is also the easy commute to London; offering the best of both worlds.” Now that she is working remotely, Grace plans to look for properties on the coast in areas such as Margate, Broadstairs or Folkestone.
Limited early data suggests Grace is not alone in her position. A recent survey by Savills showed that 71% of younger buyers crave more outdoor space and rural locations. Speaking to Graeme Hood, a Mortgage Broker from The M Solution based in Canterbury, he’s seen “A tsunami of Londoners looking to buy on the Kent coast… I have been in the job for 24 years and never seen anything like it. Houses that are a quarter of a million pounds are going in 24 hours and banks are having an absolute avalanche of applications.”
“All UK local governments have temporarily cut stamp duty, potentially saving buyers up to £15,000.”
The increased activity is down to a number of social and political factors, Graeme Hood went on to explain. All UK local governments have temporarily cut stamp duty, potentially saving buyers up to £15,000. The new rules apply in England and Northern Ireland and will last until the end of March 2021. However, as Graeme Hood points out;
“In lockdown, a lot of people found themselves on full pay without commuting to work, not having a holiday and not spending as much money eating out; so they have saved up their deposit. A lot of them are first-time buyers. All these things combined have fuelled this incredible demand.”
As the difficulties of city living have been thrown into the spotlight in lockdown, whether or not this spike in activity continues into the autumn remains to be seen.
Lucy Williamson
Image courtesy of @allebb via Pixabay.