There are signs of buyer demand in city centre’s and for smaller properties bouncing back, according to analysis of over 1.6 million properties from the UK’s biggest property website Rightmove.
Over the past year bigger family homes were the strongest performers in the market, but this has now shifted to flats, which saw the biggest jump in demand when comparing April with January, an uplift of 39%. Additionally, buyer demand in city centre’s is up by 35% compared to a 32% jump in demand for villages, with the biggest jumps in York, Norwich and Sheffield city centre’s.
The dynamic may have changed slightly, so apartments with balconies or terrace are proving popular, as are those with room for a home office, a second and third bedroom for example.
During lockdown there were numerous articles with the headlines such as ‘Is this the death of city centre’s living?’ Although ERE Property adapted with the increased demand of commuter towns, providing options for investors to purchase here, we still kept our key city centre developments as we believed once restrictions were lifted that popularity would return. This is indeed what we are starting to see from the Rightmove data recently released.
Below is a table showing the increase in buyer demand in city centre’s, April 2021 versus January 2021
Change in buyer demand April 2021 vs Jan 2021
- York City Centre +76%
- Norwich City Centre +62%
- Sheffield City Centre +57%
- Southampton City Centre +55%
- Leicester City Centre +53%
- Newcastle City Centre +51%
- Nottingham City Centre +39%
- Leeds City Centre +39%
- Birmingham City Centre +39%
- Inner London +30%
- Oxford City Centre +28%
- Glasgow City Centre +28%
- Liverpool City Centre +28%
- Chester City Centre +24%
- Edinburgh City Centre +23%
- Hull City Centre +22%
- Durham City Centre +17%
- Cardiff City Centre +11%
- Manchester City Centre +11%
- Bristol City Centre +5%
Additionally, if you look at all urban locations and all rural locations across Great Britain, the growth in buyer demand for urban locations is now outperforming the growth in rural areas for the first time since before the pandemic started.
Whilst the past year has thrown lots of changes at every one, normality is beginning to return & the Rightmove data above shows that things are beginning to return to how they were in a pre-covid world. ERE Property believes that city centre living will always attract those young professionals yearning for the city life; to be close to bars, restaurants & employers. With restrictions stopping all the benefits that living in a city centre offers, it wasn’t surprising demand decreased. However with restrictions lifting, the benefits are returning & so are tenants.
If you would like to speak to any of our Investment Directors about the current investment opportunities we have at ERE Property, please call us on +44 (0) 113 380 8930 or email [email protected].
