But property, just as it is in Monopoly, is a long-term hold. Unlike stocks and shares that fluctuate, people buy it for capital growth, knowing that if prices fall or the market has a troubled period, they can let their house or houses out as an investment until it settles down again."And with the Monopoly-money prices of today's sales, it's not surprising that regional versions of the board game are appearing. So instead of Mayfair or Kensington Park Gardens, you'll soon be able to put your money on Winchester Close as your next long-term hold.. Ilike to think of myself as an adventurous soul, but having lived in the same area for nearly 20 years, this doesn't exactly make me a derring-do Paul Theroux or Jan Morris. Can I be singled out as a rare, one-off homebody bird, unlikely to fly far from the softly cushioned Notting Hill nest? Or are there others like me, reluctant to leave their neighbourhood for newer unknown pastures (or swathes of concrete)? Ilike to think of myself as an adventurous soul, but having lived in the same area for nearly 20 years, this doesn't exactly make me a derring-do Paul Theroux or Jan Morris.

There is a whole flock of folk out there with similar homing-pigeon tendencies, according to experts. They buy their first flat in a district, then move onto the maisonette, townhouse and family house, eventually downsizing to something smaller a few blocks from where they started. Often those buying in new developments even upgrade within the same building, rather than venture futher afield.The editor of this property section, Victoria Summerley, confesses to her own stuck-in-a-rut tendencies when it comes to moving house. Having shifted into Wandsworth when she learned to drive at the age of 30 (a prerequisite to crossing the Thames, perhaps), her property-buying life has centred on the Northcote Road/ Nappy Valley scene."I moved from a flat in Kennington to Battersea," she explains, "as it seemed a nice place to live and – in those days – the prices were reasonable. In 1988, I picked up a three-bed maisonette with south-facing garden for £90,000." Summerley later traded up to a typical four-bed Victorian house in nearby Broomwood Road and unwittingly crept into the catchment area for the top state school, Honeywell.With the children catered for educationally, Summerley moved on. The next move might have puzzled some, as it was literally round the corner to an Edwardian house. But it satisfied her horticultural yearnings for a "bigger and sunnier garden" and the house itself was lighter and more spacious.

Having just exchanged contracts on this house, she is set to journey to the other side of Wandsworth Common with her partner and two children, aged 9 and 13, to gain an even bigger, sunnier garden."I thought of selling and using the equity to live in the country," says Summerley, "but you get used to an area. If I was going to downsize, I should have done it before the children went to secondary school. We are now locked in for another six years at least, so we felt we might as well have something that suited us all at this particular stage of our lives."Having said that, it is unlikely Summerley will ever be in a hurry to escape from all those familiar haunts in her London "village": the green spaces of the commons, the friendly fruit and veg market in Northcote Road, not to mention Doves, the excellent local butcher, with its sizeable, but sociable, Saturday queues.Natalie Hirst, from the buying agent Prime Purchase, even has a name for this tendency: the "comfort zone" factor. She comes across many cases of people terrified to move and often if they do pluck up the courage to stir, they wish they hadn't."I bought a house for an elderly couple from Kensington last year," Hirst says. "They wanted somewhere with wheelchair access, which was impossible to find in Kensington, but I managed to find the perfect house in Chelsea.

They bought it and although it got all the ticks in the right boxes with parking, ground-floor bathroom and everything else they required, they were desperately unhappy there. They are still mentally living in Kensington and want to be off Kensington High Street and not the King's Road."Another client who started his days in Fulham refused to leave, even though he had made his fortune and could afford to live somewhere better. So Hirst found him a "hugely expensive build project in Fulham" so he could remain in the vicinity.Charlie Seligman, from FPDSavills in Sloane Street, cites several examples of clients clinging to "comfort zones" – moving only a street away ("they could chuck their stuff over the garden wall"), going from a block of flats across the car park into a house and downsizing from Cheyne Walk to Old Church Street. "People have friends here, they know the local pubs, their kids are in local schools and everything works. They hold on to silly things like knowing what day the bin men come." It is perhaps a bit harsh to declare these neighbourhood junkies boring, but there is something about tradition that soothes certain psyches.Emma Moretti, 35, a serial buyer in Richmond/Sheen, says it is safer sticking to a place you know and like. "My parents live here as well, so I haven't really moved very far." Not only does Moretti live in Sheen Lane with partner Remi Osinowo and their two children, aged six and two. She has gone one step further by investing in 10 properties nearby.