Right move

25% of the global population have been prompted to move over the next year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic

According to the latest Global Buyer Survey from Knight Frank, the coronavirus pandemic is causing one in four buyers worldwide to consider a move in the next 12 months.

New priorities for potential homebuyers span an extensive list of needs, from more space and home offices to improved access and quality health care, according to the report from the estate agency and property consultants, which assessed the wish lists of more than 700 clients across 44 countries.

“The crisis has fundamentally changed the way we live our lives with the home now a hub from which we work, exercise, learn, socialize and relax,” Kate Everett-Allen, Knight Frank’s head of international residential research, said in the report.

“With demands on the home expanding and people having had time to reflect on the way they live and use their space, it’s inevitable that, as we ease out of lockdown, these changes will have repercussions on property markets around the world,” she said.

Of the one in four people surveyed who said they were more likely to move in the next 12 months as a result of the pandemic, 40% are seeking a new property in the same location, 26% are considering a different property elsewhere in the same country and 34% are considering a purchase abroad.

The U.K., Spain and France - three countries “that offer a good quality of life, political stability, a secure currency, excellent education systems and in normal times are easily accessible,” the report said—are the most coveted destinations for international purchases.

Unsurprisingly, buyers who have been encouraged to move as a result of the coronavirus pandemic are looking for two key things: upgrading the family home ranked highest as the reason for purchasing, followed by improved access to quality health care.

Meanwhile, 45% of respondents said they are now more likely to buy a detached family home than they were prior to Covid-19, and waterfront homes (40%) and rural homes (37%) are also in high demand.

Highlighting the increased shift in working from home, 64% of respondents say a home office is now more important.