Buyers seek second homes in London to avoid countryside commutes
Commuters facing the reality of daily journeys into the city are hunting for London homes with a renewed zest.
Home buyers are eager to have their cake and eat it too, with some people having settled in the countryside now looking for second homes in the city.
The number of new prospective buyers registering with estate agency Knight Frank outside the capital looking for a London flat has spiked in recent months.
In the third quarter, those from outside the capital represented 9.5 per cent of prospective buyers, down slightly from 10.4 per cent in the second quarter. The ratio did not exceed three per cent over the course of the pandemic.
Buyers not looking to up sticks
A shift to remote working during lockdowns pushed many Londoners to move further afield and prioritise green spaces. Now, some of those buyers are looking for properties to stay in during the working week.
“The vast majority of buyers coming from outside of London are looking for a bolt-hole rather than to up sticks and return to the capital,” James Clarke, Knight Frank’s head of London sales.
Clarke added: “All of a sudden, that daily commute looks a bit tougher as the need to be back together in the office becomes more apparent.”
“In rare cases, some are doing a complete 180 and coming back to London but the last time I heard of someone doing this, they also made a six-figure sum on their country property.”
Office workers have returned in waves to the capital with Transport for London last month recording its highest numbers on buses and tubes since the start of the pandemic.
Buyers looking to relocate their families have been increasingly looking in areas including Belsize Park, Queen’s Park and south London markets like Wandsworth.
The stamp duty holiday saved home-movers £6.1bn in the 14-month window which ended last week, according to Rightmove.
The stamp duty break was a temporary measure introduced during the pandemic in a bid to boost the market through helping buyers amid the financial uncertainty.