Paul Taggart, associate director at the Church Road, Hove, office of Hamptons International, looks at one of the driving forces behind the city's property boom

Having had the chance recently to go through the figures for 2013, it wasn’t a surprise to see that during the course of the year, 60% of the sales that we conducted were to non-locals with the large majority selling to Londoners.

The migration from London is also surprising as we are selling to more buyers from the North of the Thames than South, with a steady stream from the NW postcode area.

Our international reach delivered about 10% of our buyers from as varied locations as Germany, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Contrary to many people’s belief, there were no buyers last year from China or Russia. It seems they are buying up homes in London at record prices and giving Londoners the opportunity to relocate to the seaside where prices are cheaper.

In recent weeks I’ve noticed that Londoners have started making enquiries about moving down in time for the September school term. This is quite encouraging as most years the influx of Londoners starts around the Easter break but this year we have already taken calls and emails from a steady stream of applicants.

Another popular request is to find properties which are close to the stations. Over the last couple of years we have seen the area around Hove station rise in value. For instance, in Denmark Villas, Hove, in 2012, we sold a house for £860,000. We then sold a further four houses at in the same road with the last house going for £1.3m. The Pembroke area and the roads along New Church Road are extremely popular as once again they are close to Hove station being within a 15-20 minute walk.

We were pleased to sell the property in Princes Square recently. It came to the market with an asking price of £1.2m. We knew that that for this size and location of house that we would be busy but even we were surprised to find that three days after the launch day, we had 17 viewers look at the house and this resulted in several offers and the property eventually sold – once again to an out of towner!

We are also busy in the locations surrounding Brighton’s stations, notably the Seven Dials and Preston Park areas being very popular with the London commuter.

To maximise the influx of both Londoners and international buyers to our city, Hamptons International is holding a property road show at offices throughout the capital; this event is aimed primarily at Londoners who are cash rich but time poor. We are quite literally taking our properties to London alongside several key staff to be able to show the potential home buyers the style of properties that we have to offer.

Our staff can discuss the important elements such as proximity to schools, access to railway stations and the various benefits that our city has to offer.