Reasons for moving? Connections are king

Moving home is one of the most physically, emotionally and financially challenging milestones in life and very few people decide to relocate on a whim. That was until the pandemic.

The extraordinary circumstances prompted thousands of people to suddenly re-evaluate their lifestyle and make spontaneous moves based on access to outside space, local environments and proximity to neighbours.

Now, 18 months on from when the Government published its guidance on living with Covid – thought by many to be a line drawn under the pandemic – we are starting to see a reversal of some of our knee-jerk property decisions.

This year’s Home Improvement Trends Report, compiled by Rated People, featured a top 10 list of reasons people plan to move home in 2023. Of those, four reasons suggest that we have fallen out of love with remote and more rural living.

Of those who want to move home this year, 17% will do so to be closer to a city, while 15% will relocate to be closer to their place of work. Not far behind is the need to be in better proximity to cafés, restaurants and pubs (13%), while 10% want to be closer to nightlife options.

Recent research by Cornerstone Tax also found that urban environments were back in fashion with home movers. The cost of living attached to countryside locations was the reason why seven million Brits have already moved from a rural area to rent in a city.

Other rural residents are weighing up how practical it is to live in more outlying areas. Of those questioned, 6 million Brits are planning to move back to a city in the next five years so they can be closer to schools, shops and transport links. A city revival is what’s also behind the intentions of landlords too. Cornerstone Tax’s survey found 12 million Brits thought a property investment in a city was a better bet than one in a rural area.

More traditional reasons for moving home still fuel the buying and selling market. The top 10 reasons for moving, as compiled by Rated People, also featured ‘to get somewhere bigger’ (27%), ‘to live somewhere quieter’ (20%), ‘to be closer to family or friends’ (18%), ‘to gain a bigger garden’ (18%), ‘to be closer to the countryside’ (12%) and ‘to be closer to good schools’ (10%).

Rated People also discovered the type of property people are now favouring. Its analysis found more people are choosing homes that are in need of renovation to get on or move up the property ladder. The renovating trend, however, is quite localised.

Working in partnership with Rightmove, Rated People analysed almost 100 locations across the UK – ranking the places according to: availability of tradespeople, average property priceand competition for renovation properties among other budding renovators.

It found 4 of the top 5 renovation hotspots were in Scotland, while many of the others were concentrated in the North East and North West of England, the West Midlands and Wales. Only four of the top 20 renovation hotspots were in the South of England.

If you are re-evaluating your property needs and where you live, contact us for advice. We can sell your current property, provide you with a list of alternative homes to rent or buy, and advise you on relocation, if that’s a consideration.