Around a quarter of younger workers plan to relocate now that remote working has become established practice, according to L&C.

The broker says in a poll that 26% of 16-to-24-year-olds and 23% of 25-to-34-year-olds are planning to relocate now they can work remotely, attributing these attitudes to lockdown work practices during the pandemic.

It adds that 35% of 16-to-24-year-olds and 27% of 25-to-34-year-olds said they are actively looking for roles that include remote working, which will allow them to move to a cheaper area.

The survey found that some people were keen to move relatively quickly, with 17% of those taking part in the poll planning to relocate in the next 12 months, 31% of this group were under 24 years old. Among over-55s, 7% say they plan to move within the next year.

The poll also found that 31% of those who live in cities would like to move over the next 12 months, but are unsure of the best location for their next step.

The top three reasons to relocate are for a change in scenery, to afford a bigger property with more outside space and to live in a cheaper area, the survey says.

L&C has created an interactive relocation map displaying the average price of a house in almost 240 popular city, coastal and countryside locations across the UK.

It found that Birmingham was one of the UK’s most affordable choices for relocation, comparing a three-bedroom house in some of the UK’s largest cities.

The average price lowest in Birmingham for this type of property is £238,059, closely followed by Leeds, at £238,845, with Manchester being the costliest, at £247,188.

It also found that Newton Stewart, in southwest Scotland is the cheapest countryside area for a two-bedroom property.

The tool found that this type of property in Newton Stewart on average costs £123,913. This was followed by Carmarthen in Wales, at £168,275 and the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, at £177,168.

L&C Mortgages associate director David Hollingworth says: ‘’The pandemic has changed the way that many people work. As more people have the option to work remotely it opens up the chance for relocation to an area that wouldn’t have previously been possible.

“That could allow a move to a cheaper area or homebuyers to afford more space. As the cost of living and rising house prices continue to put pressure on households all across the UK, it’s no surprise to see many considering the option to relocate elsewhere.

‘’It was perhaps unsurprising to see that many of those planning a move hoped to relocate to the coast or country, although the cities showed that they haven’t lost their appeal. There is clearly substantial variation in prices across the country whether homebuyers are planning a move to the coast, country or city.’’

L&C’s poll was conducted by data group Censuswide, which talked to 2,000 UK adults between 18 and 21 March.

Property sales data for the firm’s interactive map was drawn from Zoopla. This was analysed to identify the average house prices and the number of bedrooms, for the last 1000 sales, or as many sales as there was data for. Data was collected between February and March.