Number of Londoners moving out of UK capital falls to lowest since 2013

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The number of Londoners swapping the capital for a home in the countryside is the lowest in more than 10 years after a decade of rapid house price growth across the rest of the UK.

Londoners bought 5.7 per cent – or 57,020 – of homes sold outside the capital this year, the lowest share since 2013 and almost half the Covid-era peak in 2021, according to research by estate agent Hampton.

Property prices rose by 26 percent London Over the past decade, that’s compared to 39 percent elsewhere in the country, according to Hampton, which analyzed data from about 650 branches of fellow estate agents nationwide.

“Homeowners in the capital haven’t had the housing market on their side in recent years,” said Anisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, adding that many “opted to be prepared” as trophy homes fell out of reach.

Apart from higher property costs in other parts of the UK, Mark von Grunder, director of estate agents Benham & Reeves, said the pandemic had left Londoners in the capital to return to working privately.

Londoners left small urban homes in search of more space in the countryside in 2020, hoping that the work-from-home arrangement would become permanent. But the epidemic led to the end Many companies To call the staff to return to the office.

First-time buyers were the “exception”, Beveridge said, with 31 per cent of Londoners buying a home outside the capital this year – more than double the proportion in 2013.

According to the Office for National Statistics, London’s average house price was £520,000 in October, although the capital had the lowest annual house price inflation in the country at 0.2 per cent.

Beveridge noted that “the high income and savings bar required to buy a home in London has pushed more aspiring homeowners to look beyond capital”.

Commuter cities with good transport links were the most popular locations for first-time buyers from London. Just under half of all buyers in Brentwood, Essex, were from London this year, up from 23 per cent in 2019.

Property prices in parts of central London have fallen over the past decade, although the capital is still the most expensive part of the country.

Between 2013 and 2024, prices in South Kensington and Chelsea fell by 11 per cent and 4 per cent respectively, according to property analyst Lonrace. In Knightsbridge and Belgravia, this year’s prices were unchanged from 2013.

Neil Hudson, founder of housing consultancy BuiltPlace, said tax increases since 2014 had “hit the central London market hard”.

“Turnover has decreased significantly and prices have been flat or negative,” he said, adding that the market outlook for high-end properties is “far from pre-2014 levels”.

Estate agent von Grunder said more homebuyers he dealt with were Londoners returning to the capital during the pandemic.

Londoners will spend a record £55 billion on housing outside the capital in 2021. But von Grunder says his clients are taking advantage of stagnant house prices to return, given the short commute to the office and the capital’s cultural attractions.

“We had a couple who sold their house in London four years ago and moved to Hampshire,” he said. “But they came back in 2023 and bought a house in a back street [where they used to live]. They paid almost the same price when they sold in 2020.”