Did you know that the average person moving house moves 25.8 miles?
This is according to Royal Mail, which has analysed over a million UK redirection applications over the last year to reveal Britain’s home moving habits.
The Royal Mail website even has a nifty tool to allow you to see how many people have moved in and out of your postcode, where the furthest redirection was, and the closest. Which is fascinating if you’re a little bit nosy like we are!
So, what about our home county of Yorkshire? Although, surely no one would be crazy enough to move out of it, unless they had to?!
Harrogate is always hot property for home moves. It has now featured in the Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide for five consecutive years – making it, in fact, one of the paper’s top 20 picks. Along with accolades for being the happiest and safest town to live in too, it’s no wonder people flock to Harrogate. And who can blame them with beautiful green spaces like The Stray and Valley Gardens, good schools, RHS Harlow Carr, the famous Betty’s and a bustling town centre, with a great range of shops, bars and restaurants?
If you look at the Royal Mail’s redirection map, taking Harrogate town centre as an example, it appears more than a thousand moves out were made, with an average relocation distance of 37 miles. But although people are moving out, there’s still plenty of people moving in (an extra 100 at least!), and the furthest movers came from Cornwall and the very North of Scotland, showing how wide an appeal the area has.
York is another city that often features on the “most popular places to live” lists. Who wouldn’t want to live in the historic city, with The Shambles, the Minster, and culture aplenty? It was also voted as the friendliest UK city last year, with the best community spirit – making it an ideal place to live. A few years back suburb Clementhorpe was named one of the hippest places to live, partly due to its proximity to the much-loved and award-winning Bishy Road, which is full of bustling shops, delis and cafes. Last year saw 304 moves out and 339 moves into the popular YO23 postcode. And we’re sure it wasn’t because of any negative reason that one person chose to move 476 miles to the Shetland Islands… which is about as far as you can go while still remaining in the British Isles!
For those after a big city, Leeds takes some beating. There’s everything you might need on your doorstep, and yet the Dales and North York Moors National Parks are just a short journey away. Suburb Horsforth was recently ranked 8th in a list of the top 10 most desirable postcodes, and it was another location featuring in the Sunday Times best places to live round up. Horsforth is where the famous Brownlee brothers grew up, and is renowned for great schools and being family-friendly as well as good shops and nightlife. It’s also an easy commute into 
Leeds, with good transport links. Property is hotly fought after, and rarely stays on the market long, so it’s no wonder there was roughly the same number of people moving in as moving out – and that stayed fairly low at around 280. Once you’ve got a foot in the area, you probably stay put! One homeowner did make the move to Cornwall – but seaside is the one thing the appealing LS18 postcode can’t offer!
If you’re planning a move – whether it’s within Yorkshire, and one of the hot spots of Harrogate, Leeds or York, or further afield – why not give us a call and we’re happy to answer any questions you might have.