London exodus??

[Newdonewhugh]

Has anyone else noticed that their Town has a lot of people moving from London?
Are local Town and village FB pages literally have 2/3/4 people a day joining and posting with the likes of “I’m moving to ..... from London next week, can anyone help me with X,Y,Z”
My Sister and others said they’ve noticed it too.
We live in South Coast.
I just wonder what this New World will look like. What will happen to London?

No: but I live in Wales.

I live in Wales and an estate agent friend of mine said recently that they can't find houses fast enough to sell - the vast majority are being bought by people who are relocating from London. These folks are now working from home and can easily afford the house prices here.

Property market is on fire down here too, but especially with the bigger, poshest houses.

I'm sure London will cope unless all 8.982 million inhabitants decide to move out.

@OwlBeThere

No: but I live in Wales.

Cross post! Are you north or south? We're by the sea so I wonder if that's made a difference?

Loads of people selling London flats and buying big houses here.

I’m not saying it won’t cope but I’m just wondering if any one else noticed. I’d imagine only a small percentage of movers join and post in the new Towns FB page so there must be many more. We’re not a particularly big Town either. We have the Sea but other than that, not much going on here.

There are 8 million plus in London, and yes there will be some who decide to move as five days a week in the office will be a thing of the past, but I expect many will remain. Schools in London are above average, then there are the cultural venues (those that survive) and that it is the only place with reasonable public transport seven days a week.

Yes, these people seem to be buying the most expensive houses. Never seen to much movement in the top end of the market in my life. Fascinating , getting to see inside all the posh houses when they go on Rightmove

Be interesting to see if a sudden influx of Londoners to less well served parts of the country starts an uplift in public service expectations. If not services themselves.

I live in London and have noticed it, especially people that came for work. I'm sure we'll survive.

More space for meeeeeeeee.

(In all seriousness, my part of London is constantly increasing in population size - there's at least five huge tower blocks currently being built within sight of mine, and many of them have already been pre-sold.)

Personally, I find it quite exciting, no idea why.
I’ve also wondered, where the people who are selling the big houses are moving to if the new people are buying all the big houses up.

I think it’s a risk making a massive life decision like that based on the pandemic. This time next year (presuming the vaccines work) we’ll all be back to long commutes, churning out carbon emissions from our excessive flights and paying through the nose for a bedsit in Hackney. Guarantee.

Rents are going down in London due to a drop in demand. A lot of leavers will be renters who couldn’t afford to buy in London, or at least the size of house they need.

I’m not seeing much fall in sale prices. But it may come a bit later.

@DontBeShelfish south, near(ish) Swansea but semi-rural.

Loads of flats being built in my part of London, no shortage of buyers either.

I am on the south coast too and recently heard an interview on southern FM from one of the big estate agent chains in the area that 8% of their sales where by out of area buyers and 14% of their let’s.
Large properties with sea views or in roads near the sea are being snapped up and one local estate agent that deals mainly with the higher end of the market have their website full of sold properties priced between £800k and over £1 million.

London is still the UK's biggest city with the highest wages and the biggest jobs market. It still has by far the widest selection of things to do: shopping, arts, theatre, politics, live music, you name it. Yes this is all in abeyance for now and some people who were looking to move out may accelerate that decision due to lockdown but the city isn't going to empty out just because of COVID or Brexit.

For generations people have ebbed away from London when they started families and started seeking a quieter pace of life. But it remains a capital city and one with a huge and rich life.

I know a few people that live in London and have moved to the coast.
Fine whilst we are all on zoom at the moment, but what will they do when things get back to normal next year, and they have massive commutes by train into London for meetings? Maybe not everyday but I am sure meetings and events will pick up again.

It'd be such a shame if it happens on such a large scale that it makes house prices for locals unachievable.

35 minute train journey from a major London terminal and my house is getting very little interest.

I’ll come and live in London!

Best city in the world

We moved away from London to my small hometown in September and met another couple from London within two weeks! The were total strangers who happened to buy a TV unit from us. The husband was from around here as a child and they’re buying a lovely, huge house in the local area (previously they were renters in London). We’re not buying as we’re leaving the UK in March but I was very happy for them.

We are about 2 or more hrs away with n train so I don’t imagine these people moving see themselves doing much commmuting at all. I’m
Guessing they think they’ll be working from home now