Flats fall out of favour with buyers says latest Rightmove publicity

The latest in the recent surge of consumer information publicised by Rightmove suggests that demand for flats has fallen significantly as a result of the pandemic.

With demand for more space, a bigger garden and a spare room for possible use as a home office has led to flats falling out of fashion with both buyers and renters in the current market, the portal says. 

Its findings have been calculated by taking the number of people enquiring about each property type on Rightmove and dividing by the total number of available properties of each type.

So whereas in May 2019 - a year ago - the one bed flat and the three bed flat were in the top five searched-for properties on the portal, now the top five consists entirely of houses of different sizes. 

As further examples of shifting priorities,  very nearly half of renters surveyed by Rightmove say that lockdown has had an impact on their priorities and what they now want is garden access, a bigger home inside, a pet-friendly property, close proximity to open spaces, and access to a parking space or a garage.

Homebuyers echo those shifting priorities, although they want also more space for working from home. 

Searches by buyers for homes with gardens on Rightmove are up 42 per cent in May 2020 compared to May 2019 and for renters they’re up 84 per cent.