Britain’s hottest real estate spot is a town on the Devon coast

A fishing town in southwest England is the hottest property location in the country when it comes to asking prices.

Brixham in Devon, more than four hours west of London by car, saw the price of homes coming to market surge by 25% in the year through February, property portal Rightmove said in a report Thursday. In the borough of Torbay, where Brixham is located, prices rose 21% after a sharp increase in demand.

The findings suggest the “race for space” has outlived the pandemic, with the end of the five-day-a-week commute leading many buyers to abandon urban areas for places further away. A shortage of homes for sale also is driving up prices in popular areas.

Buoyant demand for homes continued in the first months of the year, according to a separate survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. It said prospective buyers across the UK are shrugging off a Bank of England interest-rate increase last month and a mounting cost of living crisis.

New inquiries jumped, and estate agents expect house prices to keep rising in the coming year. That picture is mirrored in the rental market.

In better news for buyers, the pressure on supply showed signs of easing in both surveys, with Rightmove reporting a 16% rise in new listings compared with January.

Asking prices in Brixham averaged 329 699 ($434,200) in February, a third less than the average value in London, the Rightmove figures show. Other hotspots last month included Jesmond in northeast England and Farnham in the south. The average asking price across Britain rose 9.5%.