Mirroring trends in New York and San Francisco, wealthy London residents have begun to reassess their urban lifestyles, Rook says. “With Covid, life has changed dramatically, and people have [begun] to look at things a different way.”
Suddenly second homes are becoming primary homes, and buyers, Rook continues, are willing to look farther afield and endure longer commutes. “A lot of people are making [country houses] their primary home. Instead of having a large house in London and maybe a cottage in the country, they’re reversing that and having a smaller apartment in London and a principal residence in the country.”
The exception, Rook notes, is houses that cost more than £10 million. “It’s still very much a second-home market, because [buyers] will retain another house, either in central London or globally elsewhere.”
High-Net-Worth FOMO
“Nearly everyone who buys a [super-prime] country house has a base in London,” says Holborow, but he estimates that only about 50% of purchasers are U.K. nationals.
High-net-worth, London-based residents, many of whom come from Asia or the Middle East, probably had multiple homes already, Holborow says.
Still, during London’s summer lockdown, “it’s quite a sobering feeling, where you're sitting in your lateral flat, in air conditioning, and you're looking at your friends sitting in glorious sunshine on Instagram,” he continues. “These are normally people who would jump on their plane and go,” but suddenly, with borders shut down, they had nowhere to go to—and if they didn’t hop on it, they still don’t.
“All of that” he concludes, “has ended with a surge in buyers.”
This story was provided by Bloomberg News.