Cornwall home move search beats London to top spot

It has been almost a year since ‘stay at home’ restrictions came in nationally. Rightmove, the UK’s biggest property website, has analysed millions of data points to find out how staying at home and in their local areas has affected where people want to live, where they are moving to, and the kind of homes they’re now looking for.

Cornwall has overtaken London as the most searched for location for buyers on Rightmove with over five million searches in a month in February 2021, as people seek out beautiful countryside and coastal towns and villages to move to. Dorset has also jumped up the ranks from position 20 to position ten.

The lure of the countryside has in fact led to six of the top ten places seeing buyer searches increase the most over the past year being located in Cornwall and Devon, with searches for the village of Stithians in Cornwall up by a massive 224% on this time last year.

When looking at the second half of 2020, annual sales agreed grew by 69% in rural areas, compared to 49% in urban areas as more people looked to escape to the country.

Detached homes have proven to be the sweet spot in the market as people look to trade up for extra rooms, a garden, garage or perhaps space away from immediate neighbours. Looking by number of bedrooms, five bed detached homes have seen the biggest jump in sales being agreed, up by 38%, followed by four bed properties, up by 26%.

This is also a likely result of the temporary stamp duty holiday savings being largest for more expensive homes.

There has been a shift in more people who currently live in a city enquiring about a property that is outside of that city. The biggest shift has been in London where this time last year 39% of Londoners were enquiring outside of London. This has jumped up to over half now (52%), and the trend is the same across all 10 of the biggest cities in the UK.

Rightmove’s Director of Property Data Tim Bannister said: “The stand-out trends over the past year have been increased demand for countryside and coastal living, more people making the dream of a detached home a reality, and the increased appeal for a garden.

“The huge population of London means that traditionally it’s the most searched for location on Rightmove, but the appeal of the coast and the countryside over the past year has seen Cornwall crowned the new capital this year.

“More space has always been the most common reason for people moving home, but the evolution for many from balancing their laptop on the end of a bed last March to making an office a permanent addition to a home, whether that’s by converting a bedroom, garage or garden shed, has led to a need for even bigger homes than before. This is evident with five bed detached homes seeing the biggest growth in sales, and two bed homes becoming the most sought after for people renting.”

Emma Ward, Director at Goundrys Estate Agents in Cornwall said: “It’s been an incredibly busy year as people rethink the types of homes they want to buy and where they want to live. Some are moving here to be closer to family while others are looking for a complete change in lifestyle. Detached homes, which are around the £500k-£700k mark here, have been flying off the shelves, we’ve none left! We need more sellers to come to market as there is such strong buyer demand for places with garages, gardens, office space and more.”