Cornwall replaces London as most sought-after place for house buyers
Cornwall has replaced London as the most popular destination for house buyers on Rightmove, with more people than ever before seeking gardens and garages.
The online estate agent analysed data from its website to see how the Covid pandemic had changed people’s house-hunting habits.
Rightmove looked at searches on the website from the start of the first lockdown in March 2020.
The group's data suggests that people want to swap the city for the countryside, and are looking for houses with more space.
Searches for properties with a garden hit a record high on the website, while "garage" has been the most popular keyword searched by house-hunters.
For renters on Rightmove, the most popular search since the first lockdown was the two-bed semi-detached house.
A year ago, the two-bed flat was the most popular search for renters.
Six of the top ten most-searched places on Rightmove are in Cornwall and Devon.
Searches for the Cornwall village of Stithians are up 224% compared to this time last year.
Since the first lockdown, many Londoners have looked to quit the capital, according to Rightmove’s findings.
In the past year, 52% of Londoners have looked into buying a house outside of London - up from 39% last year.
Emma Ward, director of Goundrys Estate Agents in Cornwall said:
“It’s been an incredibly busy year as people rethink the types of homes they want to buy and where they want to live.
"Some are moving here to be closer to family while others are looking for a complete change in lifestyle. Detached homes...have been flying off the shelves, we’ve none left!”