Brighton and Hove property prices fuelled by Londoners moving down to work from home

Surging property prices in Brighton and Hove are being fuelled by Londoners moving out to work from home, according to Rightmove.

The online property site said that the average price tag on a home jumped by £852 this month – or 0.3 per cent this month.

Across Britain, the average asking price for a home this month was £341,019, Rightmove said.

The jump in average asking prices this month is driven by larger homes at the top of the property ladder as well as those typically bought by first-time buyers, Rightmove added.

The average asking price for first-time buyer homes hit a new record of £214,176 in January, after a monthly jump of 1.4 per cent.

The number of buyers inquiring about homes generally was 15 per cent higher than a year ago, Rightmove said.

But the average stock of available properties per estate agency branch is at a record low of just 12, it added.

There are, however, early signs that a wider choice of properties is on the way, with the number of home valuation requests in the first working week of 2022 having gone up by 44 per cent, compared with the same period last year.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property data, said: “All of the signs suggest that prices are likely to continue to rise until more choice is available.

“Three regions are in most urgent need of new supply, the East Midlands, South West and South East of England, as they are now at unsustainable rates of annual price growth above 10 per cent.”

Chris Pearson, director at Pearson Keehan, in Hove, said: “In the local area, Brighton and Hove continues to be as popular as ever, with an influx of buyers relocating from London and the surrounding areas looking for a lifestyle change.

“These numbers are continuing to increase since working from home has become more of an option.

“At present the demand certainly outweighs the supply. However, we are optimistic that sellers are slowly returning to the market, as we have already seen an uplift in requests for property valuations in January.

“With competitive lending also still available it bodes well for the number of expected transactions, and we believe it to be another busy year ahead.”

Roger Wilkinson, managing director at Wilkinson Grant and Co, in Exeter, said: “Despite a slowdown in activity over the festive period, Covid uncertainty, an interest rate rise and creeping cost of living, 2022 has picked-up where 2021 left off – with continued high levels of buyer demand and not enough homes available to choose from.

“Having experienced house price growth in some Devon hotspots of as much as 20 per cent in the last 18 months, the signals are that prices will continue to rise this coming year, but a new mood of buyer realism will slow such rampant house price growth.”