‘We do like to be beside the seaside'

Lockdown and remote working gave Mark Smith and his husband Karl Willes the opportunity to move from London to the West Sussex coast.

- Sophie Vening

LONDONERS have accounted for 20 per cent of all house purchases this year in Worthing, West Sussex, up from 16.7 per cent last year, research by Hamptons shows. It’s one of the highest figures on record, with the large volume of moves likely due to changing post-pandemic employment patterns giving buyers greater flexibility to work from home.

That flexibility was one of the reasons Mark Smith and his husband Karl Willes decided to sell their house in Norbury, London and move to East Worthing in October last year. With Mark, 50, already working from home and 56-year-old Karl only required to work one day a week in the office, they felt the time was right.

They’d looked at Hove, 26 miles along the coast in East Sussex, two years before. “But when we realised we couldn’t afford what we wanted, we parked the idea and stayed in London,” says Mark.

However, when the pandemic hit, the couple’s priorities changed. “We felt disconnected from London. All the things we love about the city, such as the theatre, music, art galleries and restaurants, were all shut,” adds Mark. “We realised we didn’t need them on a daily basis any more.”

He spotted an Instagram post showcasing Worthing. Having never considered the area before, the couple decided to check it out. “We came down for a weekend in late August 2020 and fell in love with it,” says Mark. “Worthing is nothing like its reputation as a retirement town.”