Buying a home in London continues to be unaffordable for many families despite a recent drop in prices. According to Zoopla, the average home in the city is currently valued at £706k, while the median prices for terraced and semi-detached homes are £781k and £776k respectively.
On top of the already crippling cost of living crisis, this means most families on normal incomes have to look outside of the city to get on the property ladder. However, many other parts of the South East saw house prices surge during and just after the COVID pandemic due to introduction of hybrid working.
Already popular prices like Brighton and Guildford received even more interest, along with pristine parts of the South Downs, High Weald and Chiltern Hills and other countryside areas. This meant many homebuyers on more reasonable budgets started to look at areas previously considered to be undesirable.
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Bexhill, along with its nearby neighbour of Eastbourne, has long been mocked for its ageing population. For years it has been given the moniker of ‘God’s Waiting Room’ by people in other parts of Sussex, with comedian Spike Milligan even going as far as calling it ‘the only cemetery above ground’.
Recent data from the 2021 Census shows its reputation is fairly accurate. About a third of people living in the wider Rother district are changed 65 or over, with the elderly in some Bexhill neighbourhoods accounting for 45 per cent of the population.
By comparison, the number of people in that age bracket in nearby Brighton is just 14 per cent. Despite this, Bexhill was the location of a property boom with occurred just after COVID pandemic restrictions lifted.
Between 2021 and 2022 buyer demand in the East Sussex town went up by 35 per cent according to Rightmove, with property prices going up by a 13 per cent in one year as the average home found a buyer in 35 days.
In January 2022 the property site found it experienced an 88 per cent surge in the number of new homes hitting the market as interest soared. In February 2024 the average price of a home in Bexhill is 335K according to Bexhill.
This is less than half the London average and nearly £170k cheaper than Brighton and Hove. Understandably, many Londoners who were now remote or hybrid workers took advantage of this and moved to Bexhill.
Speaking amid this surge of interest in 2022, Paul Rendle, director at Burgess and Co estate agents, told SussexLive: “We were previously valuing a property at say £525,000, but we’re now achieving in the region of £585,000 – £595,000 just a few months later.
“It’s changing market now and become much more affluent. Lots of younger people are looking at new areas along the coast and would perhaps prefer to live here than Brighton.
“This really goes against Bexhill’s old reputation. It has great schools and you get more for your money as houses come with a bit more elbow room. It’s the family homes that are seeing this biggest hike in interest as people want to be near the coast and have an improved quality of life.
“We had a person who had sold his one-bedroom flat in Fulham and was able to buy a four-bedroom home in Bexhill for the same money. We’ve got lots of buyers looking for waiting properties come on the market.”
It may have previously been known as a place mostly inhabited by elderly people, but its offering for families is clear to anyone. It’s nestled right along the English Channel coast, has lots of parks situated throughout the town while it also has access to stunning nearby countryside.
It’s about a two hour journey on the train from London which makes it difficult for commuters, but many hybrid workers would happily accept the longer journey time for a more affordable place to live.
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