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 has reached its lowest level in more than 10 years after a decade of rapidly rising house prices in 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 nearly half the Covid-era peak in 2021, according to research by real estate firm The Hamptons.

Property prices have risen by 26 per cent in London over the past decade, compared with 39 per cent elsewhere in the country, according to Hamptons, which analyzed data from about 650 branches of other Countrywide estate agents.

“D.C. homeowners have not been on their side in recent years,” said Anisha Beveridge, head of research at The Hamptons, adding that “with a trophy home slipping out of reach, many have chosen to stay put.”

In addition to rising property costs in other parts of the UK, Mark von Grundherr, director of property firm Benham & Reeves, said the return to in-person work after the pandemic has kept Londoners in the capital.

Londoners left smaller urban homes in 2020 in search of more space in the countryside, anticipating working-from-home arrangements to become permanent. But the end of the pandemic has prompted many companies to invite employees back to their offices.

Beveridge said first-time buyers were “the exception”, accounting for 31 per cent of Londoners buying homes outside the capital this year – more than double the proportion in 2013.

The average house price in London was £520,000 in October, according to the Office for National Statistics, although the capital saw the lowest annual house price inflation rate in the country at 0.2 per cent.

“The high income and savings barrier needed to buy a home in London has led more aspiring homeowners to look beyond the capital,” Beveridge noted.

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

Property prices have fallen in parts of central London over the past decade, although the capital remains 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 Loneris. In Knightsbridge and Belgravia, prices are unchanged this year from 2013.

Neil Hudson, founder of housing consultancy BuildPlace, said tax increases from 2014 onwards had “badly damaged the central London market”.

“Trade value has fallen significantly and prices have been flat or negative,” he said, adding that market expectations for high-end properties “are still a long way from pre-2014 levels.”

Von Grunder, the estate agent, said more of the homebuyers he has dealt with are Londoners returning to the capital after leaving during the pandemic.

In 2021, Londoners spent a record £55 billion on housing outside the capital. But von Grunder said his clients are taking advantage of stagnant house prices to return, due to the reduced distance to the office and cultural attractions in the capital.

“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 on the back road [where they used to live]. They paid roughly the same price they paid when they sold in 2020.