Next time you’re shopping in Beaconsfield you might notice more than the usual number of people you think you know.

Standing in the queue for the till at Waitrose you could be racking your brains to fathom why the guy unloading his trolley at the checkout looks familiar.

Clue: Beaconsfield is one of the towns in the Home Counties that’s shot up the list of property hotspots for premier league footballers.

Oliver Beales, head of sales at the Beaconsfield office of Knight Frank says houses are always in demand on one of the roads in particular where values range from £1.5 million through to £7m.

“Burkes Road is widely acknowledged as the road to live on,” states the agent.

“The location is very attractive to footballers and others in similar high profile professions involving lots of travelling because it’s so connected.

“You can get into all of the major North London football clubs within 45 minutes.

“The midlands and the surrounding area are easily accessible via the M40 and M4 corridors and Heathrow is only 20 minutes away.

“We’ve seen numerous footballers looking to buy in this road and the area generally. It’s the place to be.”

Burley House, a one-off new build by Luna Property Developments on a half-acre plot in Burkes Road, has seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms and five reception rooms. The rooms are spread over three floors.

The main bedroom has a fully fitted dressing room which runs the full length of the master suite.

There are three further suites on the first floor and two more on the floor above plus another bedroom in the annexe over the garage block.

The kitchen has bespoke units and top of the range appliances by Sub Zero and Wolf.

Other highlights include the cinema room with 60-inch screen, speakers, soundbar and blackout blinds.

No queueing at the Odeon for the future owners of Burley House. It’s on KF’s books for £4,950,000.

Demand for properties with a private space outside even if it’s only large enough for a couple of deckchairs and a pet pot plant have been driving the market for both sales and lettings in all price brackets since restrictions were lifted.

Alex McLean, head of the sports-generated business at Knight Frank’s relocation services division says the start of the football season has highlighted the shortage of super smart rental properties in the leafier parts of the country.

Supply isn’t as great as you might think.

The estate agent explains: “More owners are capitalising on the fact that demand is surging for outdoor space and have decided to sell rather than let.

“This trend has been more marked in higher-value markets where buyers and sellers can often act more quickly.

“Footballers typically prefer to rent particularly at the start of their contract.

“The problem this season is that they can’t find anything so a lot of players are ending up in hotels.”

Players at the top of their game aren’t strapped for cash. Alex confirms: “Salaries have risen in recent years as football has become more profitable which means budgets for accommodation can often exceed £15,000 a month in the Premiership.”

Demand for top bracket rented houses isn’t limited to sport stars. There’s competition from other spheres of business.

Those in the finance, tech and oil industries coming to England with their families on a job move for a fixed period also want somewhere nice to live.

Valuations by Knight Frank between April and August were up 28 per cent on last year although those for properties likely to bring in more than £15,000 a month fell 13 per cent.

Other news affecting the house market this week:

n Rightmove estimates there are almost 40 per cent more sales in the pipeline than a year ago. Asking prices rose 0.2 per cent this month reversing the decline in August.

n Latest research by online agent Strike found that sellers are increasingly reluctant to accept offers.

Despite almost half of buyers – 45 per cent –asking for a price reduction in the light of the pandemic, vendors are holding firm.

A fifth of sellers said they haven’t been asked to lower their price, a quarter would consider knocking five to ten per cent off the figure they’d hoped to get almost a third - 29 per cent - wouldn’t budge at all.

One in five sellers said they had received more interest than they’d expected; more than half were confident they’d find a buyer this year.

Sam Mitchell, Strike’s chief executive says demand is booming.

“On average we are agreeing twice as many sales per week as we were pre-lockdown which is astonishing.

“While buyers are always going to try and get a good deal and who can blame them for trying, demand is so high, sellers might not feel the need to lower prices in the current market.

“Many of our customers receive multiple offers, an ideal situation to be in but the quality of the offer is also worth weighing up.

“For example, has the buyer sold, can they move quickly, has their mortgage already been agreed?

“All these are factors that will affect the seller’s best interest.”