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?

@Kentonian12 read in the Times (while at waitrose) that the treasury wants an indefinite delay to introducing part time season tickets.

We’ve recently moved from London to a village in Kent (family of five) - but it had been in the pipeline for at least two years. As it turned out, we put our house on the market at the perfect time, but we were initially worried that the pandemic would put a stop to our plans. We’re thrilled with our decision - DCs and DH and I all much more relaxed and happy. The thrills and spills of the big smoke are all very well, but unless you have a large disposable income, living in London with kids is really hard and expensive, involving a LOT of time sitting in traffic jams (speaking as one born and raised there).

Yeah, I'm one of those who has just moved into a new property in Milton Keynes from North London. What's weird is that the street I'm on, there are six signs boards up, saying 'Sold' and according to the neighbour - they're all like me...just moved in from London. The estate agent I used said that the majority of people he is dealing with are 'like me, wanting to move because London has become too expensive.

Unfortunately the treasury will want to recoup as much money as they can at some stage as bailing out tfl at present. However at some stage they will need to try and stimulate workers to return to London as it is a ghost town with the trains at half normal capacity at the moment.

@hopingforonlychild I know but most of my neighbours/school parents don't qualify for the extra 15 hours or have 3 kids & so the nanny or a nanny share is the better option.

School is much cheaper then traditional childcare but in some ways it's more inconvenient. My dc do after school activities but they often don't have the same options on the same day eg one might do coding on Thursday but the club at the same time for the different year is sewing. So I sometimes use my childminder still (who is fantastic) & I have never needed breakfast club. I have 2 dc, if we had another I would likely do a nanny share as it starts getting complicated logistically otherwise & or a struggle to fit homework in if they are at school 7-6.

I live in a Scottish village commuting distance from Edinburgh and we have definitely noticed loads of people wanting to move from the city. Property is taking just days to sell.

More families moving down to the coast, I work in schools which now have waiting lists, where as a just a couple of years ago they were struggling to fill year groups. Mind you with the economy in freefall our city and town centres are going to look a lot different, but maybe this was the plan?

The countryside is pretty dull for six months of the year and also quite lonely. Gardening and dogs.

Despite the horror covid has brought us, I think covid has given opportunities to re-evaluate and reconfigure what we actually want from life.

We've lived in London for 10 years, and being able to work from home for my other half has given us the chance to go home near family - we only moved to get our careers going. It means we get to move up north, be with family and improve our quality of life.

London is overpopulated, overpriced, over polluted and we are over it. Personal preference of course, but we're so ready for a positive change.

Our rarely used beaches were jam packed in the Summer.

Sounds awful.

@dollyoix i guess your neighbours earn more than 150K. my DH is a higher rate taxpayer and we dont qualify for most things but i think we do qualify for this. i read on the gov uk website that you get 30 hours free childcare as long as one of you doesn't earn 150k. I haven't looked into nanny shares, could be a viable option! After school childminder is a lot cheaper than after school nanny i think! But often with communal childcare, you do have to be able to pick up and drop off at set times.

Again in the home counties, would probably find it more difficult to find another family that fits your schedule and lives nearby. I only really heard of nanny shares being common in London.

The limit is 100k unless it's changed

The coast appeals to me actually.

@Newdonewhugh - if you have seen a big influx from elsewhere - well I cannot argue against that. I just can't. & I can see beaches etc being more popular. But I like London. I do. I would not move. So many people I know over my DC's younger and teenage lives have chosen differently - often citing better environment for children. Absolutely I can see their point but not for me. & as DC got older - London had more attraction. ( v small house and mattresses on floors for visitors - ha ha )

But I have been on holidays in beach type places (UK) and seen young people having a whale of a time

Good job we are not all the same , eh? ( Other cliches are available on demand )

We are north of London (just over 1 hour by train). There are lots of new build estates springing up everywhere. Judging by the prices - 270k for a bog standard 3 bed semi in village or near train station - they are built / sold outside of the average local salary.

We bought our semi 12 years ago for 130k it's worth over 220k now. Unless the housing bubble bursts...

@OwlBeThere Interesting! I'd move to Oxwich Bay if I had London money. 😂

The limit for tax free childcare is also 100k.

Also the 30 hours is only for 38 weeks of the year.

We bought our semi 12 years ago for 130k it's worth over 220k now.

Properties outside of London certainly appreciate in value a lot slower than those inside London. I know someone who bought a small flat in London about five years ago and sold it last year for £200k more than they bought it for!

@BlueCatRedCat I could have written that myself. We moved out of london for space and schools and I’ve regretted it ever since. We still have a place in London but it’s nothing like having your permanent residence.
We moved to what looked idyllic but it turned out to be small-minded, racist, full of conservative (don’t mean tories) know-it-alls. Our local page is full of “weird van with coloured person driving around here slowly. Be careful ” (yes, they use this word) or not wanting “the filthy immigrants”. Can’t wait till the child is in Uni and we move back to London.
Schools are good but finding activities are a nightmare. Kid is big with an activity and we need to travel to London every Saturday.
And we are only 45 mins by train to Waterloo but it feels so far away.

Mind you, even within London, apparently there's been a movement of people from zones 1-3 moving to zones 4-6. I really want to know if there's been an influx of Shoreditch hipster twats swanning around Wanstead as if they live in the countryside, looking confused when they can't find a farm shop.

People get so much more for their money if they move out of the London area. A lovely big house with a garden and often a better standard of living. It's hard not to...

I live in Cornwall and its full of Londoners moving in

We left a tiny 2 bed flat in London in July, for a move to Norfolk. We anticipated a second lockdown and my husband (thank god) can work remotely with or without covid. I love having space but I really miss London.

Rural properties where I am in the south of Scotland are being snapped up by people moving from cities. DH and I set our hearts on a lovely forever home and offered 20% over the asking price - we weren't even close! Sold to Londoners in less than a week and 15 other offers so sadly, I think we will have to stay put for now at least.

My mum was saying that Londoners we’re moving to my home town in Lincolnshire. Pissed myself laughing. Yes you can get a big big house for £500k but what are you actually going to do? Half the shops on the high street are empty. There’s a Costa coffee and maybe one decent bar ( maybe) but the community is in no way cosmopolitan or liberal. It is also a strong Tory area. You’d better be into dogs and horses because it’s 45 minutes drive to any culture