Press Release: 00052

4 May 2007

Cornwall feels the heat

Source: http://www.ukpropertyshop.co.uk

The latest Moving Location Index for April, published by UK Property Shop, focuses on the relative popularity of Counties, rather than just individual towns. It has been noticeable for some considerable time that coastal locations have consistently rated higher in the rankings for people thinking about buying homes. Whether it is working people relocating, or retired people moving to a different environment, holiday home buyers or buy-to-let investors, there is no question that locations with an attractive coastline and rural atmosphere score the highest.

So it comes as no surprise that Cornwall heads the league table of most popular Counties by a long way, with Newquay, Falmouth, Penzance and Truro all in the top 50 most popular towns in April. Cumbria (2) with both its coastal attractions as well as the ever popular Lake District has water and scenery in abundance, while Aberdeenshire (3) shares many of the same kinds of attractions but with the addition of Aberdeen city itself being a major magnet for home buyers (currently No.1 in the Moving Location Index for towns).

Warwickshire (4), Somerset (5) and Shropshire (6) are the quiet horses - few of their individual towns feature in the Top 50 (although Leamington Spa is currently No.10) but collectively these traditional shire counties are attracting increasing numbers of home movers who prefer the general environment and way of life engendered in these relatively rural communities and are sufficiently distant from London to deter all but the most ardent commuters, so house prices are more down to earth as well.

Moving Location Index (Counties) - April 2007

Rank	County	Points
1	Cornwall	500
2	Cumbria	264
3	Aberdeenshire	235
4	Warwickshire	218
5	Somerset	203
6	Shropshire	176
7	Scottish Islands	170
8	Sussex	155
9	Devon	135
10	Lincolnshire	135
11	Channel Islands	104
12	Gloucestershire	91
13	Argyll & Bute	86
14	Dumfries & Galloway	85
15	Highland	73
16	Dunbartonshire	73
17	Ayrshire	71
18	Herefordshire	64
19	East Lothian	63
20	Isle of Man	54
21	Angus	52
22	Clackmannanshire	40
23	Pembrokeshire	37
24	Inverclyde	37
25	Carmarthenshire	36
26	Scottish Borders	34
27	Isle of Wight	32
28	Bridgend	23
29	Staffordshire	19
30	Northumberland	18
31	Kent	17
32	Lanarkshire	16
33	County Antrim	14
34	Denbighshire	10
35	Stirling	7
36	Caerphilly	7
37	Vale of Glamorgan	4
38	Merthyr Tydfil	2
39	Falkirk	1
40	Powys	1
41	Blaenau Gwent	0
42	Midlothian	-2
43	Fife	-5
44	Neath & Port Talbot	-5
45	Dorset	-6
46	County Armagh	-9
47	Ceredigion	-11
48	Moray	-17
49	County Tyrone	-17
50	Gwynedd	-28

Note for Editors about the Moving Location Index and UK Property Shop

The UK Property Shop Moving Location Index is based on data from a sample of people looking to buy a property and using the website to register their property search requirements with estate agents in each town. From this data a score is calculated according to the number who are considering either moving within the town where they live, or away from their home town and into another town. The Moving Location Index is not a measure of quality, simply an indication of the relative proportion of home buyers wishing to move into or out of a town, which is influenced by many factors.

The UK Property Shop website www.ukpropertyshop.co.uk was launched in 1999 and is a popular source of information for people looking to buy, sell, rent or let residential property in the UK. It also publishes the National Directory of Estate Agents, the most complete and up to date register of all UK estate agents and letting agents.