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?

@GeorgiaGirl52

New Yorkers are moving to the New England states and Massachusetts. Maybe the foxes will reclaim London and the rats will take back New York City. If they haven't already!!

Yes - New Yorkers are buying houses in my small Maine town without even having seen them in person. A friend recently sold her 3-bed house for over $800k which blows my mind. Theoretically that means my (double the size) house is worth over $1m. A year ago it was valued at $500k. It is very tempting to sell up but my son has 2 years left in the school system.

I live 3 hours from London and even pre-pandemic, there are loads of people who commute from here (me included). I don't commute every day, more like 2-3 days a week. I work on the train, am in the office core hours for meetings, home by 7pm. I see the same people all the time on the train, so long commutes are not uncommon. But there are people like me who have been doing it forever (it's a lifestyle choice, I like where I live and I like my career, the commute is a necessary compromise). I think there are people who will be pretty shocked how difficult and expensive it is, if they had just assumed they'd be doing zoom meetings forever after.

BIL is trying to sell his central London flat at the moment. When he bought it 2 years ago there was a bidding war for it. He's not had a single viewing since it went on the market 8 weeks ago.

And he's put it on at a loss. Whereas my part of London (zone 3, central London accessible within 20 minutes but with acres of green space and forest to roam) has houses selling within days.

Friends I have who have moved to London for work are slowly starting to move back home. Mainly for help with their kids or to be closer to family if we end up in and out of lockdown.

A couple of people I know have left London and moved back to their home towns now they are wfh. I'd like to think that if demand has dropped that much then inner London will become more affordable to people who need or want to live there, especially young people. I moved to an outer suburb many years ago because it was so much cheaper. Maybe I'll be able to sell up and retire to a flat in central London after the exodus .

Most trains now offer WiFi and plenty of people will continue to work on their commute. So will leave the office at 4, fo an hour and half work on the train and still be home for tea by 6.

For those saying people have always moved out of London, you’re missing the point. I’m saying that there are suddenly a lot more people than normal moving here.

I know we read about these things happening but I take anything I read in the media with a pinch of salt. However, it seems to me that this is really happening, on quite a large scale.

So many people assuming working from home - 1) is possible for the majority, and 2) far more importantly; will be forever...
Plenty are in for a hell of a land in about a year's time, I suspect.

@ProfessorSlocombe

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.

Not a chance. The money will still be in London and the people leaving London will be replaced, perhaps by people who couldn't afford to live there before if there's a small drop in prices.

Yes Sevenoaks housing market has gone through the roof!

I do think there will be less people in London in the short term. Not only people moving out further due to covid and wfh, but a lot of EU nationals are leaving/have left and there will not be nearly as many arrivals taking their place. That's not even considering the impact of a no-deal Brexit if that happens.

London will always be London but I think there will be some long-term changes, especially for Zone 1. Parts of the City are a ghost town and they're not necessarily going to bounce back.

Someone questioned where the current owners of the big houses are going, I wonder if people are forced to downsize for financial reasons.

Anecdata: A house near me has gone back on the market after only moving in in February, another after only 2 years. Both big, expensive (for the area anyway!) houses.

Based on the housing market here I would say yanbu. Mainly the bigger semis and detacheds and generally more expensive houses selling quickly. Smaller, cheaper houses and flats seem to struggle.

Yes! In the southwest, 1h30 from London. The dfl’s (down from London) as they are known locally.
Property market through the roof

No, haven't noticed it in my town but I live in a shit bit of the W Midlands where there are no independent coffee shops, and olive oil is only sold in chemists for dissolving old peoples' earwax! It's possible that you may find some London migrants in Henley -in-Arden or Alvechurch though...

I live in North Herts, a 25 min commute from Kings X/Moorgate. It has always been a commuter town to be fair. Houses are selling extremely fast here it seems. No sooner has a "for sale" sign gone up, it's sold. The market was fairly cool pre-Covid. I think the pandemic has given people food for thought. It's possible to work from home. It's possible to have a more balanced lifestyle with less commuting costs and better productivity. However, services will be impacted heavily without greater investment with such a large growth in local population.

Yes, those wanting to sell London flats are really struggling. Everyone’s moving in the other direction!

Newdonewhugh

Yes but the housing market is booming everywhere at the moment -- including in London. So it may be that lots of people are moving into your area but that doesn't necessarily mean that London is being drained. I can assure you where I live (London suburbs) the propery market is on fire.

I suspect the vaccine may make quite a big difference to all of this. We shall see.

Our (normally quiet) beaches were absolutely heaving with londoners in the beginning of pandemic when everyone was wfh. We presumed it was because they were seeing the busier beaches on the news and thought ours would be quiet. Maybe they liked it so much they decided to move here permanently.

YES!

50/60 mins East of London here. We've always been quite a commuter town but at the further edges which people now seem to be finding more palatable for a non daily commute.

We are in Tunbridge Wells and the market is bonkers - I do wonder how many sales that are currently under offer will stick if the stamp duty holiday ends and the prospect of paying ££££s more on stamp becomes a reality, just as the vaccine becomes available and people start returning to offices....

Yes but I’m not saying this is because market is booming I’m saying the London exodus thing because of what I say on Facebook

We’re thinking about it - we’ve been living and renting in London for over a decade, and house prices have risen faster than our salaries and savings. There’s a building boom in our neighbourhood but they’re all luxury 2 bed flats for overseas investors, nothing affordable or for families. If we’re going to be in the office maximum 3 days a week, then why not live somewhere that we can actually afford a family home?

Live in Manchester, we’ve had people from London migrating up here for a few years now. Problem is it pushes house prices up significantly in certain (I.e. the best areas) and creates more pressure and competition at the best schools. Also has led to an influx of artisan markets and overpriced eateries to mop up all the extra disposable income sloshing about, but most of these places are unaffordable for low paid people. Definitely feels like some serious gentrification is happening and average and low paid workers are getting pushed out.