Savills estate agent survey says homebuyers are eyeing up idyllic Newbury

Home-working city dwellers plotting a move to the country post-lockdown

A NATIONAL newspaper has reported what most of us have known all along – Newbury is a fantastic place to live.

Homebuyers across the nation are apparently eyeing up West Berkshire as a rural idyll – and Newbury, in particular.

That’s the result of a survey conducted by estate agent Savills, which has an office in the town centre.

The report in The Guardian singled out Newbury as a location that is seeing a rise in buyer registrations, accompanied by a photograph of a canal boat negotiating a town centre lock, and added: “[Coronavirus] lockdown appears to be prompting many people to reassess what is important to them, whether that is a desire to continue working from home for part of the week once normal service resumes or wanting a bigger garden for their children to play in.”

It stated: “Newbury is well known for its strong transport links, lies on the edge of the Berkshire Downs and is surrounded by attractive villages such as Highclere and Hermitage.”

Savills surveyed nearly 700 registered buyers and sellers in the so-called ‘prime property market’ (the most desirable and normally most expensive homes) last month to assess how attitudes to moving had changed during the coronavirus crisis.

The estate agent found 49 per cent expected increased home working to continue post-lockdown.

Nearly half said they would now find a village or countryside location more appealing than previously, with the latter figure higher for those with school-age children.

Other desirable locations were Winchester in Hampshire, Canford Cliffs in Dorset and the East Neuk of Fife on the east coast of Scotland.