Workers are leaving their city lives behind in favour of new lives by the coast during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, analysis of 300 locations from International Workplace Group has found.
Coastal locations including Cardiff (50%), Fareham (46%), Liverpool (46%), Aberdeen (29%) and Exeter (19%) have seen major increases in footfall over the past two years, suggesting they could be strong locations for property investors.
In 2024, the prices of coastal properties surged at a rate five times greater than the national average for property prices, at 4.2% versus 0.8%
Mark Dixon, chief executive of International Workplace Group, said: “Hybrid working has reshaped where and how people choose to live and work.
“Freed from the need to commute into a city centre HQ five days a week, many employees are now relocating to coastal towns that were previously out of reach.
“This shift is not only improving quality of life for employees but also delivering an economic boost to these communities as new residents bring spending power and demand for services.”
“At IWG, we’re seeing strong growth in demand for flexible workspaces in coastal and regional locations. Our network continues to expand to support hybrid businesses looking to drive productivity, reduce costs, and enable their teams to work wherever they are most effective.”
For coastal workers flexibility is vital to job satisfaction, with 83% saying they would look for a new job if they had less flexibility or were mandated back to a central office five days a week (78%).
IWG’s coastal network has grown significantly in recent years to help meet the demand for seaside working.
In 2024 it opened 24 new locations within two miles of the sea, including Margate, Dundee, Southampton, Banff, Ellesmere Port and Birkenhead.
