City exodus as new home buyers move north

The new homes market is experiencing a mass exodus from urban areas with London and major towns in the Midlands recording continued outward migration.

SmartNewHomes.com reports that new home buyers are looking to move away from these built-up, urban areas to the north and south west where they are able to find a greater range of more affordable homes and more green space.

SmartNewHomes.com’s March Index shows that Scotland and the south west are the most sought-after destinations for new home buyers, with more people looking to move into these two areas than anywhere else in the UK, closely followed by the north and north west.

A greater availability of land in the north has allowed for greater development over recent years, with the north and the north west now making up a combined 31% of all new home’s built - unlike the crowded south, where restrictions and a lack of available land is pushing up prices and pushing out buyers.

David Bexon, Managing Director, SmartNewHomes.com said: “With steep prices in the Midlands and the South East increasingly pushing property out of the reach of many home buyers, we have seen a huge exodus of buyers from major cities such as London, with many opting for the more affordable north, where prices are typically £40K less than the UK average.

“While development in the north is thriving, the growing number of apartments in northern cities such as Liverpool and Manchester, combined with the lower prices commanded in the north has inevitably had an impact on the average UK price of a new home – with prices down 3.4% over the last year.

“However, this distortion in the market should not cause concern among new home buyers and is not a negative reflection of the market - prices have remained strong in individual regions and the price buyers are indicating they are willing to pay for a new home has risen steadily over the last two months.”