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 country home is the lowest it has been in more than 10 years, following a rapid rise in house prices 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.

Real estate prices increased by 26 percent London over the past decade, compared with 39 percent elsewhere in the country, according to Hamptons, which analyzed data from about 650 affiliates of Countrywide’s partner real estate agent.

“Homeowners in the capital haven’t had the housing market on their side in recent years,” said Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, adding that with a “trophy home out of reach” many have “preferred to stay put”.

In addition to higher property costs in other parts of the UK, Mark von Grunder, director of estate agent Benham & Reeves, said the return to in-person working after the pandemic had kept Londoners in the capital.

Londoners left smaller townhouses in 2020 to seek more space in the countryside, hoping that working from home would become permanent. But the end of the pandemic has many companies urge workers to return to the office.

First-time buyers were the “exception”, says Beveridge, making up 31 per cent of Londoners buying homes outside the capital this year, double the number in 2013.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the average London house cost £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 required to buy a home in London have prompted more aspiring homeowners to look beyond the capital”.

The most popular locations for first-time buyers from London were towns with good transport links, with just under half of buyers in Brentwood in Essex coming from London this year, compared to 23 per cent in 2019.

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

According to property analyst LonRes, prices in South Kensington and Chelsea fell by 11 per cent and 4 per cent respectively between 2013 and 2024. Prices in Knightsbridge and Belgravia were flat this year compared to 2013.

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

“Turnover has fallen substantially and prices have been flat or negative,” he said, adding that the outlook for the high-end real estate market was “far from pre-2014 levels.”

Estate agent Von Grunder says more of the home buyers he has dealt with are Londoners returning to the capital after being away during the pandemic.

Londoners will spend a record £55 billion on housing outside the capital in 2021. But von Grunder said his clients are taking advantage of stagnant house prices to return, driven by shorter commutes to the capital’s office and 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 on a back road [where they used to live]. They paid almost the same price as when they sold in 2020.”