Near or far: the average moving distance revealed

How far are you prepared to move for the perfect property? That’s the question experts have been concerning themselves with for a number of years.

In 2018, Really Moving found the mean distance people moved in the UK had remained unchanged for five years, at 9 miles – that’s 14,484 metres between an old property and a new one.

When Hamptons conducted similar research, it used data from Experian and the Office for National Statistics – collected during 2017 and 2019 – to establish a new distance. It found around 50% of all moves took place within 3 miles.

In 2021, it was Zoopla who took up the analytical mantle. Two years ago, it found the distance between someone's home and a property they enquired about was 4.4 miles. Fast forward to 2023 and the same study was repeated. The results, published in October this year, found most people are now searching for their next home within a 3.9 mile radius.

Interestingly, all four pieces of research came to the same conclusion – those living in the North were more likely to stay close to where they originally lived, with home movers in the South prepared to take on greater relocation distances.

Drilling down into the details of Zoopla’s newest report, movers in the South East and East of England are more likely to move beyond 10 miles to find more space and value. Conversely, people in the North of England and the Midlands are more likely to stay local - 60% of buyers in these regions search for their next home within a 5-mile radius

It’s not only where you live that has a bearing on how far people are prepared to look. The portal discovered that city dwellers looking to buy a specific property type were willing to expand their search radius. For example people in Manchester, where only 1 in 27 properties on the market is a detached house, look an average of 23 miles away to buy such a home.

Similarly, London-based buyers looking for detached houses enquire about properties typically located 11.5 miles away from their current home. In Edinburgh, where 64% of homes on the market are flats, those aspiring to buy a house typically look 10 miles away from their current location.

While the average distance between an old home and a new one has hovered around five miles for the last five years, that may change if movers are swayed by another piece of new research. Compare My Move has compiled a list of the most affordable housing regions in the UK. Its league table is based on the average 10% house deposit, the average monthly salary, the average house price and the average monthly saving (8.21% of monthly income).

Statisticians then worked out how long it would take to save a 10% deposit in the UK’s 11 regions, using each area’s unique figures. The most affordable region was Scotland, where it would take 6 years to save a 10% deposit. Scotland was followed by the North East (7 years), Yorkshire & the Humber (9 years) and the North West (9 years).

It may come as no surprise that London was the least affordable region, with buyers taking 18 years to save a 10% deposit. Also languishing at the bottom of the affordability table was the South East (16 years), the East (14 years), the South West (14 years) and the East Midlands (11 years). In Wales and the West Midlands, purchasers would have to save for 10 years to amass a 10% deposit.

Whether you are moving near or far from your current home, Move Places can help. We are an online agent focussed on express property sales, with the aim to sell your home within 28 days. Why not satisfy your curiosity and request a free online valuation now?

Move Places can also help find your onward purchase, as we have houses and flats for sale across the UK.