Freed from the need to commute daily into London after the pandemic, lawyer Alan Angell moved his family from the south-east of the capital to the former spa town of Cheltenham, on the western edge of the Cotswolds.
“With three children we needed more space than our two-up, two-down in Blackheath and there are great schools in Cheltenham,” says Angell, who has family connections in the area and, like his wife — also a lawyer — travels to London once or twice a week.
They make the most of being a short drive away from the Cotswold villages of Burford and Chipping Norton, and the padel courts at Bamford’s The Club.
Data released by Hamptons on Tuesday shows that in 2023 Londoners bought the fewest homes outside the capital for nine years. Yet, like the Angells, around a quarter of us are now hybrid working, and Cheltenham, famed for its Regency architecture, horseracing and literary festivals, remains a beneficiary of this trend. London buyers still account for a higher level of buyers in Cheltenham than before the pandemic, as evidenced by recorded sales at agent Hamptons — 7.6 per cent of purchasers this year.
Since 2018, the proportion of sales over £1mn has increased from 2 per cent to 5 per cent, according to Savills, but because it’s not as commutable from London as Bath or Oxford — the fastest train takes about 2 hours — there is a “price ceiling”, according to Jonathan Bramwell of agents The Buying Solution. “At around £1.5mn it’s more affordable to get a 4,500 sq ft family house in Cheltenham than either of those cities, so some buyers can keep a flat in London as well [for midweek stays].”
In the first eight months of the year, the average property price in Cheltenham was over £402,000, up from about £391,000 in 2022. In the nearby town of Gloucester, prices increased 1.3 per cent, according to Savills using Land Registry figures. Yet it remains markedly cheaper than Bath (£571,000) and Oxford (£658,000).
Successive interest rate rises have slowed the market — 45 per cent of properties for sale in Cheltenham were under offer in December 2023, down from 56 per cent in December 2022, according to the analyst PropCast.
Phil Bates of Savills says sales are typically being agreed at between 2-3 per cent less than the asking price. Recent interest has focused on the Regency homes of the centrally located Montpellier. This week a three-bedroom flat in the tree-lined Park Place at £675,000 went under offer at £645,000; the sale before that was a Grade II-listed five-bedroom family home on the same road (asking £1.45mn, agreed at £1.4mn) in August. “Homes at £1.25mn-£1.4mn are the sweet spot,” says Bates. “The sticking point is above £1.5mn.”
He says that 70-80 per cent of his buyers want Montpellier or the villages of Charlton Kings and Leckhampton to the south of the town, where larger red-brick houses are more typical.
Schools remain the biggest driver for buyers from outside the area, according to Bramwell, and the independent Cheltenham Ladies’ College says there has been an increase in London families since Covid. “Some will rent before they buy a home to see if they like living in the town and so want a boarding or day place,” says the school’s Dragana Hartley. Charlton Kings is in the catchment area of Balcarras, the town’s highly regarded state secondary school. Its newly opened sister school, The High School in Leckhampton, covers an overlapping area to the west.
The three most expensive areas of Cheltenham are Charlton Kings, Leckhampton and Charlton Park, with the average prices of properties sold in the first 8 months of the year at about £622,000, £596,000 and £587,000 respectively, according to Savills.
Ex-England rugby union player James Forrester chose Leckhampton Hill when he and his wife Jenni returned to the UK in 2018 after living in Singapore for 10 years, where he coached national teams. The couple — who now have three children — lived in the town for eight years when James played for Gloucester Rugby.
“After considering Buckinghamshire, we decided we could get more for our money here, and there were also grammar schools,” says James, now the chief executive of the women’s team Gloucester-Hartpury. “It’s easy to get to Oxford on the A40, where my family live, and there’s so much going on with all the festivals.”
The racecourse venue at Prestbury Park in the north of the city offers the infrastructure to host events all year, something that Susie Bradshaw loves about the town. “In many ways Cheltenham feels like a suburb of London with its arts events, marathons, theatres,” says Bradshaw, who is the PA for the Irish National Hunt trainer and former jockey Jonjo O’Neill. She lives with her partner on Cleeve Hill in Prestbury, with views of the Malvern Hills.
The average house sold in Prestbury this year was just under £541,000, according to Savills, higher than the adjacent Pittville, a Regency estate with a Grade II-listed park that was initially designed to be a rival spa town to Cheltenham in the 1820s.
The town offers “enough variety” for eating out and cocktails, says Kayleigh Davies, who works in fashion. She and her husband Tom bought a three-bedroom Victorian terraced house near Pittville Park five years ago, which they share with their 12-year-old son.
She recommends the new Sef Steakhouse, plus The Nook On Five rooftop restaurant, opposite No 131, the hotel-restaurant owned by Julian Dunkerton — founder and chief executive of the clothing company Superdry, which is headquartered in the town — and his wife, fashion designer Jade Holland Cooper.
“We love living here but prices have gone berserk,” says Davies. “We are keen to have another child and a bigger house — but even with good jobs we can’t afford the £800,000 for one in town.”
At a glance
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The Cheltenham Gold Cup National Hunt horse race is 100 years old next March.
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Each year, Cheltenham hosts jazz, science, music and literature festivals.
On the market
Town house, Cheltenham town, £850,000
A four-bedroom, three-storey period town house with an enclosed garden and off-road parking, located just south of Montpellier. For sale with Savills.
Semi-detached house, Charlton Kings, £1.5mn
A Grade II-listed, seven-bedroom former coaching inn with a total of nearly 4,500 sq ft of living space, including two self-contained apartments (both of which are currently let). Available through Hamptons.
Detached house, Battledown, £2.5mn
A five-bedroom detached period property on the Battledown estate, to the east of Cheltenham and on the edge of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. On the market with Knight Frank.
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