Londoners willing to broaden their home search by a few miles are saving as much as £200,000, or even more, as rising housing costs drive buyers to look further afield for affordability, according to new data from property portal Zoopla.
The figures show a growing trend among house hunters in the South East and East of England. More than 40% of prospective buyers in commuter towns such as St Albans, Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead, Luton, and Guildford are searching outside their local area.
The pattern is also clear in university and tech hubs like Oxford and Cambridge, where high housing costs are prompting residents to consider options beyond traditional boundaries.
“Home buying decisions and search patterns are being reshaped by the affordability of housing,” said Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla. “The old adage that most people move within five miles of where they live today is being challenged, especially for those wanting to live in southern England where housing costs are greatest.”
In London and its peripheries, the financial incentive to move is particularly strong. In Uxbridge and Harrow, buyers can achieve savings of up to £220,000 by purchasing a similar property 10 miles or more from their current location, representing a 44% and 40% discount, respectively.
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In some parts of the capital, potential savings are even more pronounced. Buyers in North West London are searching for homes with a median price of nearly £290,000 (48%) lower than properties in their current area. In North London, the comparable figure stands at £285,000 (49%).
In northern England and the Midlands, affordability remains less of a concern, with the majority of buyers choosing to stay local. Around 70% of home seekers in these regions are searching within five miles of their current residence.
The tendency to stay local is most marked in Liverpool, Bradford and Hull, where more than 80% of buyers are searching nearby. Zoopla said the data suggested that when affordability is less of a constraint, proximity to existing communities, schools, and workplaces becomes a more decisive factor in home-buying decisions.
Yet, in the North West and Midlands, buyers willing to move beyond a 10-mile radius can expect to save £20,000 to £25,000 on average.
That stands in contrast to patterns seen in the North East and Yorkshire & the Humber. In these areas, many buyers are not targeting savings at all. In fact, Zoopla’s data shows that buyers in the North East are exploring homes priced at a £20,000 premium, while those in Yorkshire & the Humber are largely searching for similarly priced properties.
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However, not all rural or lower-cost regions are exhibiting the same localised search patterns. Some of the UK’s most remote areas are seeing elevated levels of outward-looking demand.
In the Scottish Hebrides, 90% of buyers are searching more than 10 miles from their current location, the highest proportion in the country. Other regions with above-average rates of long-distance searching include Llandrindod Wells in Wales (77%), Salisbury in the South West (57%), and St Albans (48%).
According to Zoopla, these shifts are being driven by a range of factors, including evolving working patterns, increased flexibility in commuting, and a desire for better access to schools, healthcare and other amenities.
“More home buyers are looking further afield in search of better value for money, so today’s home buyers need more tools and insights to help them plan their next move,” said Donnell.
“Our search experience empowers consumers by allowing them to draw their own custom search areas on a map, giving them complete control over their property hunt. Additionally, our innovative travel time calculator helps buyers understand exactly how far they could live from their workplace while remaining within a reasonable commuting distance, taking the guesswork out of balancing affordability with convenience.”
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