Berkshire and the home counties have always been a natural draw for those ready to part company with London life, but this year we have seen a greater demand than ever before. The reasons for this are obvious and stem from the COVID-19 pandemic. A disproportionate amount of time spent indoors highlighted inadequacies in people’s current accommodation and prompted many people to re-evaluate their short and medium-term housing plans. For many it was simply a decision to leave the rental sector and get on the property ladder, for others the overwhelming need for more living space and a bigger garden encouraged them to accelerate their move, with many ‘leap-frogging’ what would have been their final move within London, and heading out of town. Houses and properties became ‘homes’ again during the pandemic and we all re-connected with what a home is all about which created an even greater desire to find the perfect place to live.
A seismic shift in the ability to work remotely certainly made re-locating a great deal easier. Many firms are offering 100% home-working whilst for others, a day or two a week travelling back into London is a compromise worth making for the benefits of a larger home and improved lifestyle.
So what does this mean for the Wokingham property market? Well, if you are selling a four-bedroom detached house between £650,000-£900,000 it means there is an even greater pool of buyers looking for your home and given the value of property in the capital, it is likely these buyers will see your house as excellent value. Quite often they will be used to transacting quickly and exercising a good degree of pragmatism.
Those with properties at the upper end of the market (above £1.2m), where demand is naturally narrower, will now find an increase of interest as the number of local sellers now able to upsize into this price range has dramatically grown due to the 10-13% rise in prices of the property they are selling. Couple this with those relocating from the City with larger budgets and we anticipate prices will remain resilient for the foreseeable future.