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.

The stamp duty holiday is helping to raise house prices. Not build a single house. Just as Help to Buy a few years ago, just as the ending of double MIRAS (a tax concession) in the late 1980s.

When will Chancellors of the Exchequer learn?

@ilovemydogandMrObama

No, because all of London is coming to Bristol!

To paraphrase Keira Knightly's Duchess:

"We come to Bristol to get away from London...and all of London has come away to Bristol!"

I’m pretty sure they’re all coming to the Southwest. We’ve been trying to buy since our previous purchase fell through last year after lockdown 1 (due to vendors shielding and giving up a job opportunity). Our budget is £750k. We literally can’t find anything. Houses are going under offer within hours. All the houses we have made offers on have had offers accepted at £30-100k over guide price, based on knowing what we offered that wasn’t high enough. We are the most ideal buyers, chain free, keen to proceed, financially secure. It’s a nightmare. It wasn’t like this a year ago so they are clearly coming from somewhere.

Frankly though, I think it’s going to reverse itself soon enough. WFH won’t be forever. There aren’t enough high earning job here for all of them. And the London commute from here is not for everyone (I know because I do it part of the week). Hoping we can eventually manage to buy when they all decamp back to London.

@newnortherner111

The stamp duty holiday is helping to raise house prices. Not build a single house. Just as Help to Buy a few years ago, just as the ending of double MIRAS (a tax concession) in the late 1980s.

When will Chancellors of the Exchequer learn?

Oh, I think he knows precisely what he's doing. There's no mistake, it's quite intentional.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers but on the other hand your employment opportunities in london and the S/E are far greater as are those of your children, london state schools are some of the best in the country, you have world class museums and art galleries, an efficient public travel system. That's the price you pay and why so many want to live there and not barnsley, bolton or doncaster where prices are undoubtedly cheaper !

200k for a terrace in York City would be cheap surely.
I'm in Durham and it would be here.
Plenty of surrounding villages where 200k would get you a lovely semi or detached, I'm in one of them. But in the city, no way.

Just checked and you’re right, my figures are a bit outdated! You’d struggle to get a small terrace in a less salubrious area of town/in an area at risk of flooding for that.

But surely that proves the point further? Very few jobs in York - and indeed Durham - could fund the local house prices. And yes, it’s true for London and the SE too and it isn’t individuals’ faults, but does it stop when the whole country is unaffordable?

Friend was looking to sell her house and rent last year due to covid/job loss. Worthing area. Rental prices were going mad eg agents demanding 12 months rent up front, due to Londoners wanting to work from the seaside.

@Stasiland

It does make sense if you are working from home to take advantage of the ability to live somewhere cheaper with a superior quality of life. What happens to local buyers when they are outbid by people who have profited from crazy london prices ? Yet again the less well paid are pushed out although their target houses would be different.

A lot of those leaving London are renters leaving specifically to get a toehold on the housing ladder. I’ve known several people do that. The only difference is that those priced out native Londoners don’t dare call themselves “local buyers”.

Then you have the people with London equity to splash around looking for better work/life balance.

Both groups have been leaving London in an increasing trickle for years, WFHing has just bumped the numbers.

Successive governments have profited from making London “a global city” to the detriment of long standing Londoners who just want to buy a home. I think I will be the last generation of my family to own a London house, and that was a tiny terrace. My eldest has gone north.

We’ve had to take it on the chin. Other cities are now feeing the knock on effects. So maybe try not to do the “local houses for local folk” routine (to ex-Londoners of all people)?

@RickiTarr By becoming a global city London has provided a good life and opportunities for many (although not all) of its inhabitants to the detriment of other parts of the country. London has swallowed up huge amounts of investment that more deprived areas could only dream of. We've been takibg it on the chin for years.

@RickiTarr yes! I was a North Londoner who was priced out of my area. DH absolutely refused to rent. My family gave me a hard time about moving out of the area but I'm glad he talked me around. We moved to where DH lived prior to marriage, which is considered undesirable on MN but it's actually a grammar area (something we did not consider when moving here). We moved here 6 years ago, and we now have a healthy amount of equity due to prices sky rocketing. That, and DH's now larger wage, means we could actually afford London now, but no thank you! I only miss the chicken and chips

My aunt bought a house in North London decades ago (when it was truly undesirable to anyone with a decent wage). It is smaller than my house, but has more 'period charm'. It takes me less time to get into central London than where they are. But that house is now 800k+. There is no way my cousin can afford accommodation in the same area, or even the ones nearby. My aunt, who doesn't want her to leave, has done everything to make the house work for my cousin, her husband, and her elderly mother. Nearly all of my cousins are making plans to move away from north London. Soon it will just be my parents and their siblings (who all rent via Housing Association).

I am one of those people, but moved pre-Covid. Some of those moving might well be from the North/Midlands already.

• Originally

My area of London which is alright pretty toppy has been pretty stagnant price wise for the last few yrs. If you can wfh part or all of the time it gives you far more options plus many people like the idea of being near family if having dc so "home" may be outside of London.

What happens to local buyers when they are outbid by people who have profited from crazy london prices ?

Tbf this happens to a shit ton of Londoners too & has for yrs but people tend to forget them when talking about local people.

[quote Stasiland]@OnlyFoolsnMothers but on the other hand your employment opportunities in london and the S/E are far greater as are those of your children, london state schools are some of the best in the country, you have world class museums and art galleries, an efficient public travel system. That's the price you pay and why so many want to live there and not barnsley, bolton or doncaster where prices are undoubtedly cheaper ![/quote]
Yes but I didn’t get a choice. Many people who move to London to take advantage of all those things you mentioned, have the choice to leave and return to where they are from, where they have family and such ties.
I personally live in London still because of family and friend ties, for the support system, for the links to all I’ve ever known.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers same plus my parents & inlaws are immigrants & all other family is abroad so London is literally all we really do know.

graziadaily.co.uk/life/in-the-news/terri-white-leaving-london/

"'I'm Leaving London Just As It Reopens' - The Rise In Working From Anywhere
Faced with the prospect of never returning to the office full-time, Terri White's previously unshakeable belief that she needed to be in London to do her job started to wobble"

We’re not the only ones: post-Covid, one in seven Londoners want to leave the city (even if, like me, they’re simply opting for a different one). The thirst for greener, wider spaces after a year indoors isn’t just from those in the capital, though. Last June and July, Rightmove saw buyer inquiries from 10 cities nationwide rise by 78% on the year prior. When it came to villages: a whopping 126%

plan is to move back

That's the answer to your OP title. It's not an exodus of "Londoners". It's mainly people like you, who moved to London, now moving back home. It's understandable. Why live in an overcrowded extremely expensive city unless you have to (family or work).

Why anyone would want to buy an overpriced executive flat with a tiny balcony confused me pre covid now I really don't get it.

Good post @OnlyFoolsnMothers