Home sales in UK villages surge:post-lockdown buyers leaving cities for houses in commuter areas
Here is a key coronavirus impulse to city flight – according to this article…
The number of homes sold in the UK so far this year has almost caught up with the number of sales agreed in the whole of 2019 – despite the total halt brought to the property market for seven weeks of lockdown.
Whereas in recent years a surge in sales has been led by London buyers, most of the home buying hotspots for 2020 are in villages.
The figures from Rightmove are the latest indication of an urban exodus following coronavirus lockdown, with people swapping city flats for houses and outside space in more rural locations as they look to a mid-term future with less or even no commuting.
The stamp duty holiday on homes up to £500,000, announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in early July, has kicked both buyers and sellers into gear with tax savings of up to £15,000 available until the end of March next year.
While some villages have seen more sales agreed in the first nine months of this year compared to the whole of last year, no areas of London have achieved the same distinction.
The strongest market in the capital is in Upminster in the borough of Havering on the Essex-London border, where sales agreed so far this year are up 42 per cent on the same period last year.
“The national sales agreed trend is an important and early indicator of future completed transactions and it’s encouraging to see that whilst it’s still playing catch-up, it has been improving at pace over the past few months,” said Rightmove’s Miles Shipside.
“National statistics are drawn from hundreds of local markets, with villages and market towns peppered across the country benefiting most from the post-lockdown boom in activity and a shift in buyers seeking out more serene scenery.”