Britain’s housing stock was built to trap warmth, not banish it, and a growing number of households are deciding the mismatch is no longer something they can simply fan away. New research from Barclays suggests that hotter spells are now feeding into the biggest financial decision most people ever make: where to live.
According to the bank’s latest Property Insights study, one in seven adults (13 per cent) say they are considering a move to a cooler part of the country to keep a lid on the cost of staying comfortable. Among younger buyers the figure climbs sharply, to 21 per cent of Gen Z and 25 per cent of Millennials, a signal that warmer weather is starting to shape long-term housing choices as much as day-to-day habits.
It is a striking shift for a country more accustomed to chasing the sun than fleeing it, and it lands at a moment when the data on Britain’s climate is hard to ignore. The Met Office has confirmed that summer 2025 was the warmest on record for the UK, the latest entry in a run of hotter, longer warm spells that older homes were never designed to withstand.
For most households the immediate response to a heatwave is practical rather than dramatic. Nearly half of homeowners (48 per cent) reach for portable fans, a third (34 per cent) have fitted blackout blinds or curtains, and around one in six (17 per cent) have bought portable air conditioning. One in 10 (11 per cent) have gone further and installed fixed cooling systems for use in the warmer months.
The trouble is that cooling a home costs money at precisely the time of year when many would rather not be running up the meter. Three in 10 adults (30 per cent) say they worry about the impact on their energy bills when they switch on electric cooling, and more than four in 10 (44 per cent) actively avoid the most energy-hungry methods where they can. Reflecting the stop-start nature of a British summer, almost half (48 per cent) feel cooling simply is not needed for most of the year, making a costly fixed system a hard sum to justify.
That tension between comfort and cost is, for some, where the idea of moving begins. With borrowing conditions easing – Barclays has been among the lenders trimming mortgage rates in 2026 – the financial calculus of relocating, or trading up to a better-insulated home, is no longer as forbidding as it was during the rate peak.
Alongside the quick fixes, there is a clear appetite for tackling the problem at source. Two in five adults (40 per cent) say they would rather invest in home improvements that stop a property overheating in the first place than rely on devices to bring the temperature back down. Three in 10 homeowners (31 per cent) have planted, or are considering planting, trees for shade, while 28 per cent are improving ventilation through skylights, vents and similar modifications.
This appetite for passive, fabric-first solutions chimes with the broader direction of travel on energy efficiency standards, where retrofitting older stock is increasingly seen as the route to homes that are cheaper to run in both winter and summer. For landlords and owner-occupiers alike, a property that holds a stable temperature without a soaring electricity bill is fast becoming a mark of quality, and a factor in value.
The prospect of households relocating for climate comfort adds an unfamiliar variable to a market already in flux. With rents and buyer demand shifting across regions – Rightmove expects advertised rents to rise around 2 per cent in 2026 – any movement of younger buyers and renters towards cooler postcodes could, over time, nudge demand in parts of the country that have not traditionally competed on weather.
Jatin Patel, Head of Mortgages, Savings and Insurance at Barclays, said: “Hotter spells are a challenge for British households, particularly as much of the nation’s housing stock isn’t designed to combat sustained periods of high temperatures.
“For homeowners, it’s no longer just a question of comfort, but also cost-management as they balance staying cool with the impact on their energy bills. For some, this means choosing to retrofit their home with more passive ventilation options, meanwhile a growing number of homeowners are considering moving altogether to make sure their home is equipped from the outset.”
For now, the figures describe a behaviour in its early stages rather than a wholesale exodus to the cooler corners of the country. But with summers trending warmer and the cost of comfort firmly on the agenda, the way Britons heat-proof their homes, and where they choose to buy them, looks set to become a permanent feature of the property conversation.
