New analysis by property gurus Rightmove has confirmed that property in Central London is being snubbed in favour of homes in the suburbs.

The data crunching shows that homes in Zone 6 have seen record interest from potential buyers, with interest regarding property in Zone 1 dramatically falling when compared with last year.

Zone 6 has moved from having 9 per cent more buyers in September 2019 compared with the previous year, to now being up by 108 per cent.

Zone 1 has moved from being 41 per cent up year-on-year in 2019, to now being just 7 per cent up.

The study looked at the change in the number of buyers sending enquiries to agents on Rightmove between September 2018 and September 2019, and the same change between September 2019 and September 2020.

Information collated by Rightmove focuses on enquires made by house hunters for property in the areas around Northern line station stops which travels from Morden through Central London to High Barnet.

The two stations that saw the biggest increase in the number of buyers were High Barnet, up 166%, followed by a station just a few stops along, Finchley Central.

Alex Corradi, Sales Manager of Winkworth’s Finchley office, said: “We’ve seen tremendous interest from buyers living in central London, Hampstead and area, seeking to move out to a larger home with a good garden in the Finchley Central area and out to High Barnet.

"Northern locations of the Northern line are performing more strongly than the southern locations, and there is a clear dip in demand along the Zone 1 stations."

The change in behaviour is being attributed to the coronavirus pandemic where an increase in home working has led to people reassess whether they need to live close to work anymore.

Rightmove’s Head of Property Data Tim Bannister comments: ”Agents have been reporting a number of people selling up in the inner London zones and moving further out, but to see this reversal in the demand trend reflected so clearly in the data is quite something.

"Some buyers still expecting to commute into the centre in the long term may have now adjusted their mindset about how many zones they’re prepared to move out, leading to zone 6 being the new favourite.

"This data demonstrates the short term trend of more central places like Moorgate and Bank seeing lower demand right now – although it’s worth noting that it’s off strong demand levels for these locations a year ago.

"I do think this demand will come back eventually but it’s not clear yet how long it will take.”