Londoners are no longer prioritising location over other factors when they buy a home.

A record high of 72% of buyers don’t purchase in the area they initially started their property search, suggesting that location no longer reigns supreme, said London estate agency James Pendleton.

The firm, which covers prime property hotspots such as Chelsea, Fulham and Wandsworth, said it has seen a 30% rise in the number of households buying outside the area they initially registered in in the last five years.

Instead, there is now a greater preference for type and size of property than ever before, with location relegated to a secondary consideration.

Lucy Pendleton, founder director of James Pendleton, explained: “In inner London, ‘location, location, location’ has become ‘property, property, property’. In the post-gentrification era, the right home is far more important than where it happens to be.

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“Everywhere is gentrified, everywhere has ‘come up’. This is giving buyers the confidence to branch out into virtually all residential areas in inner London.

“We’re seeing people registering in Chelsea before buying in Battersea, and beginning their search in Fulham then moving to Tooting.

“But this phenomenon also creates a real affordability problem for people on lower incomes and with smaller budgets. These households are at increasing risk of being squeezed out of inner London, having to travel closer to the Greater London boundary and beyond to find homes they can afford.”