Is there really an exodus of londoners decamping to the North and Midlands or is it just an urban myth ?

[Stasiland]

Just wondered what's driving the incredible rise in house prices particularly in naice parts of the north ? There have been loads of threads recently about people from London and the South East longing to escape the rat race and move to areas with cheaper property prices and a better quality of life. No problem with that as I suspect their budget is much healthier than ours and we are not competing for the same houses !

We live in a grim part of the north west, have done for the last 30 years. Love my house and the local area but the rest of the town not so much. If you want sophistication look no further than the town centre which is a cross between 'shameless' and the Star wars canteen. No naice independent coffee shops or boutiques here sadly. Ds2 will be going to uni within the next 2 years (hopefully) and Dp and myself will be able to take early retirement. Plan is to move back over the Pennines, preferably to between York and Pocklington (have close family there and grew up 1/2 an hour away). We've kept an eye on house prices and accept that we won't get anything quite as nice as we have over here as we don't have megabucks (current house has massive garden and in semi rural location but worth max £200,000 ). Sadly I'm starting to think that we will be priced out by the time we are able to move. Just feel sad that the UK property market is so screwed that some areas are becoming out of reach for ordinary people. lthough I appreciate I'm lucky that we have a house of our own.

No, because all of London is coming to Bristol!

Sorry pressed too soon ! That should read I appreciate I'm lucky to have a house of my own but I suppose that comes with the territory when you live up north. Cheaper house prices v fewer opportunities isn't even a certainty. Anyone else in a similar situation ?

I live in coastal SW, and have met my first family who have decamped from London now they are permanently WFH! I don't know if they are outliers or pioneers...

In theory then house prices in London and the outer parts should be going down, which doesn’t seem to be the case.

House prices are increasing faster then wages, and the government will do anything to protect house prices.

London prices will start to slow or fall- I know lots of people struggling to sell flats here in London but because they are so stubborn and are used to making 10s of 1000s after a few years won’t lower the price. So greedy!

I feel bad being so uncharitable about the place that’s been my home for the last 40 years. When I first moved here it had a thriving town centre. Ok so not especially affluent but friendly people and lovely surrounding countryside. Last 10 years it’s declined massively and with the after effects of covid and then brexit things can only get worse. We just want to live somewhere where poverty isn’t in our face (and I don’t say that lightly - I’m a front line worker in the NHS, seen my fair share of deprivation inflicted poverty). It just seems like yet again even average earners are priced out of living somewhere remotely nice. Maybe things will improve if Boris levels things up (hollow laughter) but that’s another story

Typo ‘deprivation inflicted tragedy)’

We had to leave London for the West Midlands as we were finally priced out of the rental market even with the help of partial housing benefit.

Dh is from here originally though. We can actually (just) buy a house here in a pretty grim part (can say that as it's his home town, he hates it too but we didn't have much choice), although house prices here have gone up an insane amount.

We are buying a house for £180k. Four years ago, the people there now bought it for £130k. They have done no work to it. All the houses have risen by the same. It's crazy.

Dh still has his London job but works remotely.
I don't know how locals here can afford the prices.

House prices in York are obscene, and have been going up sharply for the last 10 years at least (which is of course having a knock on effect to nearby areas). It always makes me laugh when York is recommended as somewhere to get yourself a cheap family home - a two up two down sets you back the best part of a £200k!

Coupled with covid and the huge impact on the hospitality industry - I think I saw that York will be one of the cities worst affected by job losses due to the reliance on tourism and hospitality in the local economy - local people are going to be further pushed away from home ownership in the city.

Having said all that, where we live in North Yorkshire does give us a far better standard of living in a comparable area than we would get in most parts of the country. We’ve got beautiful countryside, good local amenities and a thriving local community for less than a small terrace in York itself.

SE here., but come from the north.

Of people I know, I know one family moving out of SE for job. One couple who decamped to their holiday house (wfh) over the summer and have stayed. They'll be back when they can no longer wfh. And three that have/are planning moved into London/SE in the period March to June this year.

I live in a ruralish village in the north west and there has been a noticable influx of “outsiders” over the last year. Quite a few have immediately started major renovations as well. Like totally gutting the house, which I presume they can afford to do if they sell for stupid money down South and buy a house for peanuts up here.

We have had 3 in our road alone - sw and not that cheap but £1 million buys you 5 beds over looking the sea.

I think it will cause some resentment.
Parts of the north need massive investment to level things up and make them more desirable to live in.
There’s a reason you never see threads like ‘thinking of moving to Grimsby’ or ‘Rochdale’ what’s it like’
Don’t get me wrong Rochdale does have some lovely areas but certainly not on the scale of surbiton or St Albans

Not heard of any Londoners moving in round here but we are not a desirable town, not rural or coastal and higher than average crime rates. We will be very near HS2 hub though so I wonder if that will change in the future. I bought my 2 bed semi for £100k last year, think I'll hang onto it a while!

Definite influx here in the SW. Prices are up 10-20% on last year and good houses are going for over asking, often to cash buyers. I don't know if it'll last. I think people will have a bit of a shock when winter arrives (nothing to do) and they realise there's little in the way of culture/diversity.

York is recommended as somewhere to get yourself a cheap family home - a two up two down sets you back the best part of a £200k! which IS cheap in comparison to London prices. A two up two down would be over a million where I am.

Am hoping, however, that it might have positive effects in terms of more demand for culture and facilities, rather than pushing house prices even further beyond the reach of locals.

It's the SW too. Prices have rocketed here (Somerset). My village is up by over 10% this year according to Zoopla. Anecdotally, friends who are moving locally said there is sod all available, either to rent or buy. It's all being snapped up as soon as it hits the market and going for over the asking price.
Our fast train to London takes 90 mins so I'm not surprised it's happened.

You seem to have a really fixed idea of what Londoners are like and what they want from an area - ‘naice’ boutiques and coffee shops, etc?
There are plenty of parts of London that are run down and a bit dodgy too, so it’s not surprising if people are trading one area like that for another similar area where they can actually afford a house, might be closer to family, etc.

Most people I’ve heard of who are doing this are moving back close to where they grew up or where they have family. Most Londoners weren’t born here - we mostly come from somewhere else.

I can totally get where you’re coming from and the frustration with the impact on house prices though. I suppose the upside of people who are living in the community and fully WFH (rather than buying in a cheaper area and then commuting) is that the local economy gets more benefit from them - but I still get that there is a negative impact.

My (slightly run down but perfectly serviceable) main street in an outer London borough is noticeably brighter and more well to do since all the people who commuted to central London every day started WFH. After a few closures in the first lockdown we have new cafes, new specialist food shops, and the people who have opened them say they’ve been really busy because local people are shopping locally rather than spending most of their cash on Pret at Canary Wharf.

I live in london and don’t know anyone who is leaving. House prices have gone up again in our area and it’s def a more gritty area.

I do think though that the demand for flats has fallen sharply. There’s a few developments round here that just aren’t selling. I couldn’t even afford a one bed in one of these blocks of flats.

My long term plan is to move back to where I am from in Scotland and to sell the house here and buy a flat for my DD’s if they want to stay in london.

Agreed that some areas of London are equally grim, isn’t Hackney one of the most deprived area of the UK where million pound mansions stand next to tower blocks ?

@Schonerlebnis Sounds like you live in my neck of the woods if you know Rochdale.

Can concur with PP, they’re all here in bloody Bristol

I can count 3 families who have done it or are in the process of doing it, from London to the SW.

I have friends who have £700k and can’t find anything. Not even joking. There are no houses to buy!

If that were the case then house prices would start to fall and they're not. I live in SW London and I get Estate Agents and even individuals leafleting me on a weekly basis. Interestingly , the only person I knew who was looking to relocate was told by her employer that she is required back in the office F/T and any absenteeism will involve disciplinary action, so the whole WFH thing went straight down the crapper.