Some 70% of home movers buy property less than 20 miles away, research suggests

Updated

Seven in 10 home movers end up buying a new property situated 20 miles away or less from where they had lived previously, research suggests.

Conveyancing services provider My Home Move looked at where more than 26,000 of its clients across England and Wales had moved to. Some 70% had chosen a new home a distance of 20 miles or less from their old postcode.

Even among those who did move further afield, most still opted to stay within 75 miles of their former home, by moving over the border into the next region, the research among those who had been clients between 2011 and 2015 found.

An exception to this was a large number of home movers from the London area heading for the countryside and sea views of the South West and choosing to settle in places like Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.

Movers in the North East were the most likely to stay within their region, with 90% of home movers there remaining put.

Those moving from the London area were the most likely to head elsewhere, with only 57% of movers staying in the capital. House prices in London in particular have surged in recent years, prompting some movers to look for value elsewhere.

My Home Move found that people moving out of London made up the biggest majority of movers switching from one region to another among those buying homes in the South East, the East of England and the Home Counties - as well as the South West.

Doug Crawford, chief executive of My Home Move said: "It would seem that we really are a nation of homebodies preferring to move no further than 20 miles from our old postcodes.

"The last five years have presented some real challenges for home movers, with rising house prices, gazumping on the increase and a lack of stock leaving many questioning if now is the right time to move so we are not surprised people feel more confident in buying in places they know well."

A separate report released by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has found the supply of properties available decreased sharply in May, with 30% of surveyors reporting supply falling rather than rising. Rics said this represented the most widespread decline since the survey started in April 1999.

Rics said demand from home buyers has also fallen back, with the looming EU referendum on June 23 causing some uncertainty in the market.

Here are the percentages of home movers who chose to stay within their region, according to analysis by My Home Move of the home-moving habits of more than 26,000 clients between 2011 and 2015:

- North East, 90%

- East England, 88%

- South West, 88%

- Yorkshire and Humberside, 87%

- North West, 86%

- East Midlands, 86%

- West Midlands, 85%

- South East, 84%

- Wales, 80%

- Home Counties, 71%

- Greater London, 57%

And here are the percentages of movers in each region who moved 20 miles away or less from their old postcode:

- North East, 83%

- East Midlands, 78%

- West Midlands, 77%

- North West, 76%

- Yorkshire and Humberside, 74%

- South West, 71%

- South East, 70%

- East England, 66%

- Wales (North), 65%

- Wales (South), 63%

- Home Counties, 61%

- London, 56%



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