Remote working grows housing market for regional towns
February 20th, 2023
The post-Covid shift from office to hybrid, or even fully remote working, has created an increase in house sales in regional towns.
David Plaister of David Plaister Ltd, an independent estate agent in the North Somerset area, says he has seen an increase of house sales in Weston-super-Mare with people from Bristol relocating.
He said: “There has been a gradual increase in people coming from Bristol, looking for all sorts of reasons.
“Our stats say we sell 8 out of 10 properties to people from Bristol, which had been growing pre-Covid, and certainly through and after Covid people are looking for more space to work from home”.
The reason for this “You get more value for money, better space, better accommodation for your square footage of pound and good commuter links.”
Director of the Richard James estate agents in Swindon, Josh McHugh said: “Within the local area Zoopla are saying that 40% of buyers are coming from out of area and showing that 30% of all searches outside London are searching for Swindon.
“People are realising the value they can get in Swindon, if you’re on a Reading, Bristol, London salary you can live here and get a house that is so much bigger.”
The trend is not limited to the Southwest, in May last year figures released by Nationwide Building Society found that during 2021 south Norfolk had a 19% increase in property prices, one of the biggest rises of any region in the UK.
