How far do Warrington residents travel to move house?

  

This was an intriguing question asked by one of my clients the other week. Readers of my property blog will know I love a challenge, especially when it comes to talking about the Warrington Property Market!

For the majority, the response is not very far. It is much more common for homeowners and tenants in Great Britain to move across town than to the next town or county. Until now, it’s been hard to say how many homeowners and tenants moved from (and to) relatively far away to buy or rent their new home.

However, me being me, I carried out some research and requested some statistics from the Royal Mail. What came back was fascinating!

Moved Out of Warrington

Using statistics for the 12 months up to the middle of Autumn 2016, 392 households moved out of Warrington (WA4), moving an average distance of 38.64 miles - the equivalent of moving from Warrington to Blackpool (as the crow flies).  The greatest distance travelled was 363 miles – that’s more than 13.5 marathons (when someone moved to Thurso in Scotland).

 Considering there were 727 property sales in WA4 in the year and countless tenant moves, the numbers seem consistent. It makes sense, once you find a town you like, you tend to want to settle down and if you do move, you might only move to a different neighbourhood, better transport links or to be closer to the school you want to get your children into… but the likelihood is you won’t travel far.

Moved into Warrington

I then turned my attention to people moving into Warrington.

Using the same statistics for the 12 months up to the middle of Autumn 2016, 522 households moved into Warrington (WA4), moving an average distance of 37.55 miles - the equivalent of moving from Huddersfield to Warrington (again as the crow flies). The greatest distance travelled was 291 miles – that’s more than 11 marathons (when someone moved from Kinloss in Scotland to Warrington).

I have looked at the data of every person moving into Warrington and these have been plotted on a map of the UK. Looking at the map, it shows exactly where most people come from, when moving into Warrington. As you can see, there are a high proportion of people moving from London and the South.

So, what does all this mean for the landlords and homeowners of Warrington?

When an agent markets a property for sale or let, it is vital to know the tenant or property buyer well. The properties they are letting/selling fit those tenants/buyers, so they almost sell themselves. These days that means not only knowing how many bedrooms, reception rooms etc. a property offers but the budget buyers and tenants want to spend on a property in that area as well as where they come from.

The estate and lettings industry loves the mantra “location, location, location”.

I say it might be helpful to factor in where (and how) far people are moving from, so the property can be sold or let more easily.

Many say knowledge is power.

While I do enjoy writing my blog on the Warrington property market, I also use the information to help my clients buy, let and sell well. So for example, the information gained for this article, will enable my team and I to be more efficient in where to direct our marketing resources to ensure we maximise our clients’ properties sale-ability or rent-ability.

You can always keep an eye on my blog for any properties I feel will make a good buy to let opportunity, or if you are after a second opinion then email me on manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk or call on 01925 235338. If you are in the area, feel free to pop into the office – we are based on 6 Bankside, Crosfield St, WA1 1UP. There is plenty of free parking and the kettle is always on.

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